Canoy's page

After level 5, the disappearing con isn't really a problem, as you get natural spell and can easily cast a few cure spells before changing back. And if you're getting low on HP, you can always shape to a water elemental for that extra health.

For an archer, transmutation might be best. Reduce Person, Cat's Grace, haste, Fly and Greater Magic Weapon are all great aids for an archer. A baseline might look something like this:

Wizard1
Wizard2
Wizard3
Wizard4
Wizard5
Fighter1
Eldritch Knight1
Eldritch Knight2
Eldritch Knight3
Arcane Archer1
Arcane Archer2
Arcane Archer3
Arcane Archer4
Eldritch Knight4
Eldritch Knight5
Eldritch Knight6
Eldritch Knight7
Eldritch Knight8
Eldritch Knight9
Eldritch Knight10

This would give you +16 BAB, 9th level spells etc. But as most campaigns doesn't go all the way till level 20, you might want to change it up a bit. Fighter4/Wiz2 lets you enter Arcane Archer at level 7, but your spellcasting will be hurt.

I second Graywulfe's suggestion. In my game he just acted friendly but creepily, hinting at magical assistance if so needed. Being not so subtle with the House of Bones helps, too. Most of the party seem to trust Laori (big surprise there!).

Sure, Clustered Shots takes care of that, but the feat is a) non-Core and b) overpowered and ridiculous and not allowed in any games I play in (my DM very emphatically said no, in fact). It'll take awhile to get through 140+ hp at that rate.

Too bad your DM has banned Clustered Shot. It can hardly be seen as overpowered if it is required for an archer to deal damage at higher level. That would be like calling Spell Focus overpowered.

The Radiant Charge damage bonus is untyped, so I don't see why not. It is powerful, but remember that it is limited to once per day, and the Paladin looses a lot of its healing capabilities.

A level of Wizard with the Admixture Evocation subschool might do the trick?

When you cast an evocation spell that does acid, cold, electricity, or fire damage, you may change the damage dealt to one of the other four energy types. This changes the descriptor of the spell to match the new energy type. Any non-damaging effects remain unchanged unless the new energy type invalidates them (an ice storm that deals fire damage might still provide a penalty on Perception checks due to smoke, but it would not create difficult terrain). Such effects are subject to GM discretion. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.

Good thing the rider doesn't use an action to charge, his mount does.

I don't see why a magus rider couldn't activate Spellstrike while his mount charges (though he would have to make a Concentration check for the turbulence).

** spoiler omitted **

The problem with that is that the Spirited Charge rules state that you have to use the charge action to get the bonus, which is a standard action. But holding the spell from a previous round might work, depending on your interpretation.