Artificer School (by DracoDruid)

The artificer focuses on the creation and alteration of magic items.

Associated School: Universalist.

Replacement Powers: The following school powers replace the hand of the apprentice and metamagic mastery powers of the universalist school.

Artificer’s Touch ( Ex ): You gain a +2 bonus on Spellcraft and Use Magic Device skill checks when creating or otherwise dealing with items of a kind for which you have the prerequisite item creation feat. For example, an artificer who has the Craft Wand feat gains a +2 bonus on checks to identify, create or activate a wand (if a roll is necessary).

Salvage Materials ( Su ): At 4th level, you can salvage the gold piece value from a magic item and use those funds to create another magic item. You must have the appropriate item creation feat for the item to salvage. You must spend one day after which the item is destroyed and you gain the gp value it took to create the item. This value cannot be spent as ordinary gold; it may only be used in the creation of other magic items.

For example, an artificer wants to salvage a  wand of lightning bolts  that has 20 charges. Originally created (like all wands) with 50 charges, it required 5625 gp when initially made, or 112.5 gp (5625 divided by 50) per charge. The artificer is able to recover the gp value from the remaining charges. He gains the value of (112.5 x 20) 2250 gp to put toward the creation of other magic items.

Metamagic Spell Trigger ( Su ): At 8th level, you gain the ability to apply a metamagic feat you know to a spell trigger item (generally a wand). You must have the appropriate item creation feat for the spell trigger item you are using. Using this ability expends additional charges from the item equal to the number of effective spell levels the metamagic feat would add to a spell. You can only use one metamagic feat at a time and you cannot use this ability when using a spell trigger item that does not have charges, such as prayer beads. The Still Spell feat confers no benefit when applied to a spell trigger item.

For example, you can quicken a spell cast from a wand by spending 5 charges (4 additional charges), empower the spell by spending 3 charges, or trigger it silently by spending 2 charges.

Metamagic Spell Completion ( Su ): At 12th level, you gain the ability to apply a metamagic feat you know to a spell completion item (generally a scroll). You must have the appropriate item creation feat for the spell completion item you are using. Doing so requires a Use Magic Device check with a DC equal to 20 + (3 x the modified level of the spell). You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.

For example, applying the Empower Spell feat to a  scroll of cone of cold , creating a 7th-level effect, has a DC of 20 + (3 x 7), or 41.

Artificer Spells
With this variant, all spells that could only be cast by an artificer are now considered ordinary sorcerer/wizard spells of the same level.

Example: Armor Enhancement is considered "sorcerer/wizard 2" and belongs to the transmutation school.

Design Commentary
Instead of messing around with an entirely new class and the potential complications of balancing it with the Pathfinder classes, I took a much simpler path and made the Artificer an ordinary wizard school.

I am aware, that this will generally change the class, but it also gets rid of several headaches and complications.

So this variant is for GMs who want it simple.