[RPG] Benefit of Dual Daggers

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Question

For a rogue, in this specific case a Thief, is there any reason to prioritize the use of dual daggers as opposed to dual short swords, or a rapier?

Context

I am running a campaign and the party rogue has decided to keep his dual daggers instead of changing to dual short swords or other options. I have tried to find any instance where daggers have some form of advantage (beside the thrown property, which he has never used and is unlikely to, based on party composition).

I found a question that answered that dual daggers might yield more damage per round than a single rapier, but are short swords simply better? Or have I missed something? He is more familiar with 3.5e, so perhaps he is superimposing an old rule?

The next part of the adventure provides a number of +1 weapons that no one can actually use, so I plan to substitute them for more useful items, and hope this can help inform my decision of what to give him.

Best Answer

In terms of dealing lethal damage, a dagger is strictly inferior to a short sword--to a user proficient in both.

Daggers, however, have all the benefits in-game that they enjoy in real life: they are smaller and easier to conceal, lighter, throwable, cheaper, and a little easier to use. (Cf. wizards who, as a class, can use daggers but not short swords.)

I should note, also, that the expected difference in damage from the weapon is 1 point per hit. For your rogue, this will become less and less impactful over time, as sneak attack damage is independent of base weapon. The "non-optimal" nature of the choice to wield daggers becomes pretty trivial when we're looking at d4+5d6 vs d6+5d6.