I've just decided to start a new game with 4 PC generated characters.

A monk
A thief dual-classed to mage at 11th level
An Undead hunter-always have one for those pesky vamps
and as my main character an Archer (has to be elven) GM in long bow.

I have to say that while it's still early days-still in Nalia's keep, it's the most fun game I've had yet. I haven't got a tank yet (the undead hunter will be eventually) and my NPCs are Jaheira and Nalia (it was Aerie but I needed a thief after my PC dual classed so I changed her to Nalia) but Archers are great and really make a big difference.

And because I'm no playing with five or six dual classed fighters like I normally do I have to use more subtle tactics than walk in, spot monster hack it to death with Sword/Axe/Hammer, loot corpse then desecrate remains as I normally do.

I don't know how I'll get on in the harder dungeons but my plan is to use bottle necks and slowing spells like web, slow, stinking cloud and hold monster/person to disabled opponents and keep them at a distance while I wipe them out.....

Archers are truly grand. They give immense firepower to any team. If you have a Summonner, you can tie up the monsters while he handles them.

Played my first game with an archer , bloody brilliant

Prob. one of the best classes right at the beg. of the game. Unfortunetly virtually worthless on the really tough creatures as they seem to be immune regardless of the + of the bow.

That's because a lot of the tougher ones take +3 or even +4 weapons to hit, and, with very few exceptions, it's the arrows that count here, not the bows. That's why the archer needs to carry a really decent backup melee weapon or two - or plan never to get into a close up fight!