Newbie wizard with a question

[GreatOwl]

Hello fellow wizards

I’m a new player and my first (and atm only) character is an halfling wizard. I like to be at least somewhat self-sufficient and so far (I’m at lvl3) I’ve done so with pots. Thing is … it seems it might get expensive. I hit breakables and pick every single thing up, so tbh I didn’t really need to buy many pots so far, but as quests become harder …

Reason I’m posting here is that I’ve been thinking to get my char dragonmarked and I’d like some imput from experienced players. If I understood this right, to make room for the dragonmark I’ll need to give up at least one feat. I’m following this build (so atm I have Extend, Toughness and Maximize) and I’m wondering which one of the remaining, if any, would be best to swap for the dragonmark. I’m also wondering whether I should take Mental Toughness before the suggested lvl18, but that is another question I guess.

Perhaps an alternative would be using wands. I’m building up on my UMD but as a wiz it goes up so very slowly, so the chance of failure seems high.

Any input will be highly appreciated, thanks.

[FuzzyDuck81]

wizards get a number of bonus metamagic-only feats, so dragonmarked halfling wizards are actually relatively common & very capable in groups & at soloing (almost as popular as WF arcane for a self-sufficent caster build) so i'd say go for it - use the character planner if necessary to figure out how it'll work out, but it should be fine

[GreatOwl]

Thanks Fuzzy.

I read a little bit more on the topic and I'm pretty much convinced to get the marks. Anyone willing to give some advice on feat selection?
I think I will for sure get:
Extend
Toughness
Maximize
Empower
Heighten
Spell Penetration
Greater Spell Penetration

And add: Mental Toughness, Insightful Reflexes, and the 3 Dragonmark feats.

Now, the bulid I was following had a couple of Spell Focus feats, how much do you think I'm going to miss those? Are MT and IR worth the switch?
Finally, any suggestion on what order to follow in selecting those feats?