An "Explorer" Wizard.

[tadkins]

One of the fun things about the Wizard class is all the stuff you can do to get yourself into places you don't belong. The highest peaks, the most secure vaults, the deepest parts of the underground, and the most dangerous planes; all are within reach of a wizard!

I want to take that concept a bit further. I had an idea for a learned but rugged wizard who is devoted to exploring, seeking out long lost relics and wealth from the farthest corners of the universe. Think a one-person Enterprise. There would be a lot of emphasis on travel and utility magic. Divination for searching out and studying new places before setting out, along with flying, stealth and protection spells among many others. Basically, anything that would help a wizard survive the most fantastic and/or hostile places where few mortals can tread.

For both D&D 3.5 and PF, I was thinking of an Eldritch Knight build that takes one or two levels of Ranger for stealth and survival skills, then topping off with full Wizard/EK. A little bit of "toughness" for the character. For PF I can go further and pick the Void Elementalist for the cool space-themed powers and abilities. I am open to build suggestions if there are better options out there, but this is what I've got so far. Thoughts?

[Kraken]

Hell Knight Enforcer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/e-h/hellknight-signifer) (as it's called on pfsrd) might be of interest to you. It will make wearing armor easier for you, if that's something that interests you, and also gets some cool utility abilities. I think it's also the only medium BAB caster (divine or arcane!) prestige class that doesn't lose any caster levels. The flavor might not be great for you, though.

[Kurald Galain]

You'll need exotic weapon proficiency (whip), of course...

[Yael]

You'll need exotic weapon proficiency (whip), of course...

Obligatory Whip Climber skill trick mention (for 3.5).

[Vaz]

Explorer Wizards might struggle with needing the skill points.

There are many dead magic locations they might encounter. Balance, Climb, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Jump, Listen, Spot, Survival, are all skills which are replaced by various spells. Dead Magic can be countered from 3rd level via an Initiate of Mystra, or at 17th level via Invoke Magic, but that's a 9th level spell to cast a 4th level or lower spell, but with Antimagic field available from level 11, if you were to create a character who could delve into such areas, you'd need some form of being able to adequately, theoretically cope in a situation where you can't. Other useful skills like Hide and Move Silently can be helpful in such a situation if you're expecting monsters.

You're going to need those skills on top of the various Knowledge skills, Spellcraft, UMD and Concentration typical for a wizard. Some skills, you only need 5 ranks in, like Survival etc, but you can't really imagine an Indiana Jones (albeit with spells) not being able to do those. Sure, you have the utility spells, but when they run out or are cancelled. While I don't expect challenges like that to have many monsters in (from a pure gameplay perspective), a gish type character who would be able to theoretically hold their own against some of the less Supernatural wild-life in such an area would be ideal.

You can somewhat prepare for it though; With research (coming from Knowledge checks, even if you have just a single rank in the knowledges to make them trained at the least), you can learn as much as possible about it. A social character cohort could help with regards to that; Bards or Swashbucklers with the dead level ability can go to town (literally), and make friends, gather information, as well as using bluff to locate bits of information regarding potential targets, as well as giving you some freedom with spell slots, and ability scores to help carry extra equipment in hard to reach places. Dragon Cohort could be quite useful for this, here, as they're both strong with mundane features which obviate skills, without being excessively large.

You can also use Divination spells; things like Legend Lore (2d6 weeks for a DC30 CL check on an obscure bit of info), or if you're in need of a faster boost, burn XP for Vision which does it instantly, Scrying, Prying Eyes, etc, while things like Cleric Divinations (paying for the services of such a Caster with access to Commune) can help with regards to those that are protected by anti-magic/dead magic.

[Evolved Shrimp]

Explorer Wizards might struggle with needing the skill points. […]

Sounds like a gestalt wizard/factotum might be a good base for the character, if gestalt characters are on the table.

[Demidos]

The easiest way will be via templates ---
+1 Feral (gives you Fast healing)
+0 unseelie fey (can give you blindsight and wings, but slightly cheesy)
+1 Dark (HIPS and sneaking bonuses),
+1 Divine minion (Shapeshift at will into a small list of shapes)
+1 Quasilycanthrope (Disguise self and dr/10)

If you pick 3, you can buy them off via LA buyoff (assuming you are using it) by level 15, but still retain your toughness.

Or spells --
Draconic Polymorph/Polymorph into a Cave/War-Troll, boost your caster level to resist dispelling and increase duration, and your wizard is now a hardy combatant!

If you really like the ranger aspect, you could pull out the sword of the arcane order to cast Wiz/sor spells in your ranger slots.

[animewatcha]

Feral turns your base INT to 11 though.

[DMVerdandi]

Honestly, Is there any way you can play as an Arcanist?

Personally, I think it's much better to be able to cast identify again if you need to, instead of feeling bummed that you didn't prepare it twice, and you forgot to make extra scrolls.
Simply divy up the spells as such:
1 Offensive/3-4 utility/ per spell level.

-still craft as many magic items as possible.

-As far as archetypes, you COULD play as a blade adept, giving yourself more of a martial bent

-to further your adventurous side, what you could do (since you are playing pathfinder/3.5) Is take the first level as a factotum or rogue, and in the first level take able learner. Now you have tons of skills. Also take practiced spell caster at level one so that you can maintain your caster level.

- As for prestige classes, perhaps lore master or arcane savant [both pathfinder]. Honestly, you will have a ton of skills already, so there is no REAL need to have the fluff match the crunch, and if you want eldritch knight, you totally can instead, BUT if you want more of an archeologist feel, those two classes might deliver more fluff.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Rogue 1/wizard 4/unseen seer X, or the same but with scout instead of rogue. Enough skill points, higher-CL divinations, a bit of stealth, and close to full casting.

I like the Planeshifter prestige class, from Manual of the Planes. It's 7/10 casting, and grants plane shift at will at level 8 (and telepathy at 7, and immunity to certain planar effects at 3).

[Troacctid]

I like Unseen Seer, since it gives you access to Lay of the Land as a 1st-level spell.

[tadkins]

Thanks everyone, you've given me some great ideas.

I like the idea of being at least competent with a weapon, just in case. It's why I considered the EK option. You just know that there will be antimagic/dead magic/etc scenarios where the character will have to prove that "magic doesn't make the hero, but the strength of their heart" and so forth. Same reason I like having a bit of skill in more mundane areas.

As far as 3.5 goes, I originally did consider the Factotum as the base, and for gestalt that would be excellent. By itself it doesn't provide as much casting as I'd like though, and I was hoping to make two versions of the character that can be easily translated into both PF and 3.5, since I don't think the Factotum exists in PF.

I like all the build ideas presented here so far. Thank you everyone for your contributions, you've given me a lot to think about. :)