This is my first time playing Arcanum. That said, I am a half-elf and primarily would like to be an archer and secondarily a mage. Should I pump up the bow skill and dexterity and then a spell class (I'm overwhelmed by 16 spell classes!)? Also which spell class would you suggest? Or should I progress in spells and bow/dexterity together?

Hrm. I'll answer part of your question en route to figuring out the answer to the rest of it.

If you wanted to deal damage with magic, Black Necromancy would have been the easy choice. Rather, as an archer I think that means you can reasonably avoid that school of magic entirely.

The Temporal college is a good bet for magic. More speed means more shooting, which means more damage. (It also means more options, which is even better.) However, maintaining multiple spells requires at least a modicum of Intelligence, which otherwise doesn't contribute to either skill.

White Necromancy would benefit you without eating into the spells you maintain. As a ranged attacker, you'll also be dependent on friends and allies to keep your distance, which makes White Necromancy's top level very helpful to you.

I'd say Mental is a nice one. That last level of it eats into your spell maintenance, and the first level makes people like you less thereafter, but on occasions when you just need that extra oomph it's very nice.

Conveyance is also helpful, as it's another that requires little or no maintenance and allows you to come and go as you please.

I'd say improve your bow skills first, then your magic. Also, choose whether you'll rely more on allies or summoned creatures. If you rely more on summons, pick up more Intelligence. If you rely more on friends, pick up more Charisma and a touch of Persuasion.

Sound right to other folks?

MackieStingray's advice sounds good to me. The main thing is to have fun, and not worry too much about the mechanics of your character's design. Find some spells that sound fun and try them out. You can also mix and match a few schools, especially if you don't need the top-tier spells.

But yeah, you'll want Dex and Bow skill for archery, and Willpower for spells. Intelligence helps maintain spells as MackieStingray said. Despite only getting one or two character points per level, you'll find you have plenty of points to spend on these things.

I would take Temporal, Conveyance and Mental, roughly in that order.

Temporal is great, and the Teleport in Conveyance is a must. Stun and Dominate Will are from Mental are simply great, allowing you to set up enemies and NPCs alike for easy kills and nefarious schemes.

I agree, though I might go Conveyance first/rush to get Teleport as early as possible. But that is because I like having Teleport on all my mage characters. And if you are going to invest heavily in Bow (and then of course Dexterity) I have found that I don't need to hasten my character to get enough APs during combat to basically just machine-gun-with-a-bow every living thing.

thanks a lot for your suggestions :D

I suspect he'll find Spacial Distortion more strictly necessary than Teleportation, which also means not worrying about the Willpower necessary for that fifth magical level for a little while.
Teleportation has, to my knowledge, no direct tactical value in spellcasting. Its benefit is in world map travel. This is a goodness. It is not, however, necessary for enjoyment of the game.

Yeah, the idea of Spatial Distortion is a good one (being able to teleport around the battlefield to give you room and not get hit) but it isn't really well executed, in my opinion. Most enemies will be able to reach you no matter where you teleport to within the small area that you can from Spatial Distortion, and even if they can't it probably is more effective in terms of Fatigue/killing enemies (or gaining experience) ratio to use offensive spells or whatever your weapon is to stop the enemy before they get to you.

Fair enough. Consider Conveyance deprioritized.
What other schools can folks recommend for a medium-intelligence mage?

I would say it depends on how you want to play it. If you want to sort of do most of the damage yourself, but have someone else to soak up the damage any of the elementals (and getting the summon elemental spell) would be useful. Or conjuration. But lower intelligence would limit the number of summons you could have and so you would also have to be contributing damage and not just be sitting back entirely.

White necromantic is always useful for fairly obvious reasons.

White Necromantic does a lot of good here if you're dependent on friendly NPCs to keep you safe and alive, since you are also keeping them safe and alive while you stand back and fill the enemy with arrows.
Of course, aggro and NPC strategy are a bit messed up in Arcanum, aren't they.

New goal. Dexterity 20. Seriously, that should be very important to you. Willpower 18 will become necessary if you wish to become a powerful mage, but any mage is more powerful with Dexterity 20. Somebody care to explain why? I'm tired.

All of the actions points! :)

With 20 dexterity your character (unless severely over encumbered) has so many action points during combat that you can probably kill everything on screen before the end of the first turn.