As I already said in one of the previous posts in my might party (the rest of the team being K, P, T or K, K, P) Archer is an invaluable asset.

I tend to use her/him only in the above combination, however.

In a magic party, Archer is a dead loss, inho. Might be useful under some circumstances - when the rest of the party is dead/unconscious and you need someone to take you out of trouble. But I never tried it...and never will - I hate half measures.

In might party, on the other hand, he/she gives you access to some vital spells: paralyze, fly, tp, invisibility, torch light, wizard eye - and these are the only spells I use Archer for - no place for offensive spells.

I also tend to develop Paladin slightly different way, pumping Spirit sky-high - now Archer with very high Heroism and Bless active (and a decent artefact spear) is a very good fighter - handles real-time combat well and has never let me down so far.