D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Weapon Sizes

The whole new Weapon Sizes thing has me confused. I mean, I understand about weapon sizes, and what happens to a weapon's damage as it increases or decreases in size, but how they now list and describe the small and medium sized weapons sperately in the 3.5 PHB has me confused.

My particular case: I have a halfling rogue that dual wields daggers using wepon finesse. Pretty straightforward under 3.0. But now, how does it work? The way I read the new Weapon Sizes says that a dagger isnt a light weapon for a halfling, so he cant weapon finesse it, right? He cant even dual wield them nicely because he'll get penalties for using a non-light weapon in his off-hand, right? So, to do this right under 3.5, do I have to have him use Small Daggers in each hand, which do 1D3?

Is this correct? It seems to me like they made this more complex instead of less. Whats the difference between a shortsword and a dagger then for a halfling? Nothing?

Anyone?

He can use either Small-sized shortswords or Small-sized daggers in 3.5. Small-sized shortswords would be the closest equivalent to what he was doing in 3.0 (I believe they do 1d4 damage, though I'm too apathetic to look it up right now). Both of them would count as light weapons for him.

Bah, just pick up EWP: Spiked Chain. Now you can have a 1-handed weapon with reach, and that allows you to attack adjacent opponents as well. Heck, you can dual wield them and get double the benefit.

RigaMortus said:

Bah, just pick up EWP: Spiked Chain. Now you can have a 1-handed weapon with reach, and that allows you to attack adjacent opponents as well. Heck, you can dual wield them and get double the benefit.

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What are you talking about?

GamerGeek said:

Whats the difference between a shortsword and a dagger then for a halfling? Nothing?

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Nope-look at the table. A Small dagger is a light simple weapon doing 1d3 damage with a 19-20 threat range, throwable with a 10' range. A Small shortsword is a light martial weapon doing 1d4 damage with a 19-20 threat range.

The difference between a Small shortsword and a Medium dagger? A) cost, B) throwability (the Small shortsword isn't balanced for throwing), and C) who has penalties to use it (the grip on the Medium dagger is too big for the halfling's hand, while that on the Small shortsword is too small for the human's).

If your DM uses the weapon equivalence variant (DMG 27), then your Medium-sized daggers are equivalent to Small-sized short swords, and can be used as light weapons without penalty. The only problem is that since you can't throw short swords, you can't throw Medium-sized daggers either.

A Small character wields Small weapons. Instead of using a human dagger as a halfling shortsword, you just use a shortsword made for halflings.

Your halfling who dual-wields light weapons probably wants to use two Small shortswords.

Magus Coeruleus said:

If your DM uses the weapon equivalence variant (DMG 27), then your Medium-sized daggers are equivalent to Small-sized short swords, and can be used as light weapons without penalty. The only problem is that since you can't throw short swords, you can't throw Medium-sized daggers either.

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Does it say that somewhere? If so, it's like a wookie on Endor.

How does a weapon that's balanced for throwing for person A mysteriously become unbalanced when person B picks it up?

coyote6 said:

Does it say that somewhere? If so, it's like a wookie on Endor.

How does a weapon that's balanced for throwing for person A mysteriously become unbalanced when person B picks it up?

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Being "balanced for throwing" isn't the only thing that makes a weapon throwable. You could make a four-foot-long sword perfectly balanced, but I couldn't throw it end-over-end regardless. Similarly, it's not unreasonable to say that a size-small character can't accurately throw a weapon that a size-medium character can.

RigaMortus said:

Bah, just pick up EWP: Spiked Chain. Now you can have a 1-handed weapon with reach, and that allows you to attack adjacent opponents as well. Heck, you can dual wield them and get double the benefit.

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Just one problem with this... it's a two-handed weapon.