Arti vs MechI

[Shade_z]

I was planning to build a TempestII/MechI (12Rng/7Rog/1ftr) ranger who would use a light xbow, longbow with manyshot and scimitars for melle.

The plan is to get all trapping skills, UMD, burst damage (manyshot with longbows), decent ranged dmg with xbows (when manyshot is on timer) and then when I need to melle I will pull out my scimitars.

So my question is for all the artis out there (since I haven't bought it yet), how much less dmg will a mechI do compared to an arti.
Also I don't think that Artis get SA, so this toon will get som extra dmg because of the 7 rogue lvls I will take.

Will the mechI prestige be worth it, or should I just get 1d6 more dmg with assassins?

[Shade_z]

Can anyone who has a capped Arti tell me how much base damage they do with xbows?

[Khatzhas]

As a basis to start, they add their Int to damage through a spell, get an additional d6 of elemental or d8 of force damage (Which can and should be applied to others in the group), and will be using +5 conjured bolts.

Most other factors depend on weapon/gear and aren't specific to artificers.

So yes, they'll do a lot less damage with their repeaters than a mechanic Rogue. Making up the difference is their pet, their Runearms, and the occasional CC/nuke spell.

[Shade_z]

As a basis to start, they add their Int to damage through a spell, get an additional d6 of elemental or d8 of force damage (Which can and should be applied to others in the group), and will be using +5 conjured bolts.

Most other factors depend on weapon/gear and aren't specific to artificers.

So yes, they'll do a lot less damage with their repeaters than a mechanic Rogue. Making up the difference is their pet, their Runearms, and the occasional CC/nuke spell.

Thanks for the reply. I completely ignored the +Int mod on my toon and started with and int of 8.
Anyways I'm not gonna just rely on xbows, but I think they do more dmg than longbows when the manyshot is on timer.
So xbows->Manyshot->melle for me.
But I need to LR first.

[Khatzhas]

Whether you're going artificer or mechanic, you'll want a high int.
Also of note that if you're going Artificer 6, you get access to the battle engineer prestige. That gives +2 to your weapon (doesn't stack with the bolts) and the endless fusillade action boost.