My favorite skills are alchemy, ressurect and aura of command (even though aura of command is bugged)...
Anyway, from that list, I'd say only wisdom is kindof useless... It just doesn't give enough extra experience to be worth it. If you strt the game with upgrading the wisdom skill, then at the end of the game, you might end up at the most 3 levels higher than you would without it. I just don't think it's worth the 5 skillpoints, but I guess that's just a personal opinion. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />
Augment Defence is good for any class, but mostly Mage I think, because once the enemy gets too close, then they'll need all the defence they can get. Spells won't help them there anymore. (Except for that shield spell perhaps...)
Freeze is cool, I like freeze. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Deadly gift is a really nice skill, but the scorpions are 10 times stronger than they should be...
Tovi 