I've actually been kicking around the idea of making weapon choice matter less. My thought is to use a class's Hit Die as it's damage die, regardless of the weapon used. That way, a person whose entire life involves the use and mastery of weapons (say, a fighter) will always deal more damage than some who learns a handful of basic self-defense techniques (say, a wizard). And that way you can have a fighter who only uses daggers (which is a cool visual) and they're still more effective than a wizard who for whatever reason uses a longsword.
I'm still working out the details (weapon special properties and how they'd apply, for example) but I like the general idea.
Hm. Should be pretty simple:
Type
Simple -1 die, max die +0
Martial +0 die, max die +2
Mods:
Finesse -1 die, no Versatile, no Two-Handed
Light +0 die, no Versatile, no Two-Handed
Versatile +1 die when used two-handed, no two-handed, no light, no finesse
Two handed +1 die no light, no versatile, no finesse, no thrown
Heavy +1 die, Two-Handed only
Reach -1 die if two-handed or versatile, -2 die if light or finesse
Thrown +0 die no two-handed, range 20/60
Ammunition -1 die, no melee mods (Versatile, Finesse, and Reach), no melee attack, range 80/320 simple or 150/600 martial
Loading +1 die, max die +1, Ammunition only
Max die size 2d6
Min die size 1d4
It'd be interesting if spells could be made to do the same thing, but I think you run into the problem of Clerics and Druids suddenly doing more damage than Wizards. I think Wizards/Sorcs would need more dice inherent in their spells.