Races of the Wild game use?

[JoeGKushner]

Because it balances out. More damage for SA for a thrown weapon, and less for a meele SA. A halfling would perfer to do the thrown SA if possible, anyway to get the advantage of his DEX and thrown weapon bonus.

I agree with this.

However, a normal rogue still has a 30' sneak attack with no sacrifice on melee damage.

Are halfling rogues so good that they can take multiple range increment penalties to hit?

 

[Gnome]

I agree with this.

However, a normal rogue still has a 30' sneak attack with no sacrifice on melee damage.

Are halfling rogues so good that they can take multiple range increment penalties to hit?

I don't have the book in front of me, but I think the same applies to halfling rogues who take the substitution level. For example, a 5th-level rogue has 3d6 SA damage. A halfling with the substitution level attacking with a thrown dagger would get 4d6 damage instead. If he were trying to SA with a meele weapon, he would get 2d6 SA damage. If he were trying to SA with a bow at 30' or less range, I believe he would get the normal 3d6 SA damage (since a bow is neither a meele weapon nor a thrown weapon).

So, assuming I'm remembering the wording correctly, the answer to your question is that if the halfling were 30' away and not in a position to advance within 10', he could use a bow to at least get normal SA damage.