Variable weapon damage, the rule that different weapons roll different dice for damage, has become a standard rule since AD&D but it wasn't always. In the original little brown books all weapons deal 1d6 damage. To some this is silly, why should a dagger deal the same damage as a battle axe? To others this makes since, when a regular person also has a d6 hit die this allows a dagger to always have a chance to land a killing blow.
As with all things D&D I like to look back at Chainmail to see how the rules developed into what they are now. In Chainmail a unit has a number of Hits they must take in a single round or else they are still standing and can fight. Dave Arneson used these rules in his early games and found that his players didn't mind not killing monsters in one blow if it meant that they themselves wouldn't be killed in a single blow either. Arneson adapted rules from Ironclad, a civil war game he worked on that had hit points and armor class to solve the issue, and they've been around ever since.
Now that we know the origin of Hit Points, what is the purpose of the damage roll? It represents the fractional hit you have landed with the attack. When using d6 for all damages and a d6 hit die for all creatures this pairs well, while the use of variable hit die does muddy the mechanics a bit for balance. Many players will quickly realize that they can save weight in their pack by only using daggers. After all, they all deal a d6 anyways so why not? How do you differentiate the various weapons in game?
One option to make each weapon remain unique is adjusting To Hit. There is a combat matrix in Chainmail designed for its 2d6 combat and Man To Man scale, showing the idea isn't a new concept. The concept is that each pairing of specific weapon vs each armor has a unique target number that needs to be rolled to damage the creature. We can check the table from Chainmail and see that a Dagger has one of the best chances of damaging a character with No Armor, needing a 6 or more. This is better than all other single hand weapons, matched only by the Morning Star, Pole Arms, 2 Handed Sword, and bested by only the Mounted Lance. An issue with To Hit tables is that you'll often find oddities in them, like a Hand Axe in this table being as good or worse than a dagger in all cases other than when fighting Plate Armor. I feel this is partly due to using a 2d6 resolution and such a large table of weapons and armors, if making your own table like this I would recommend using a smaller scale on both sides that allows for more variation.
AD&D and every edition since then answers the question of "why not always a dagger" by using Variable damage, giving some weapons the ability to deal more damage on average and even the chance to exceed a hit die of damage in a single blow. Some of our expected results can be seen as early as 1e, from where the table above comes from. Daggers deal 1-4 damage, Two Handed Sword deal 1-10, Hand Axe deals 1-6. Using this method still isn't a perfect way to differentiate all the weapons and oddities exist here too. The Hand Axe and Club both deal 1-6 damage, with the latter weighing less, both having the same speed factor and potentially space required (if your DM is playing with those rules). Sling Stones and light crossbow Bolts both deal 1-4 damage, while Arrows deal 1-6. These may be choices to adjust the game to match the fiction, but they seem odd never the less.
Comparing these two methods and when looking at average damage per round, the original goal of slowing down combat, they are very similar. You can imagine a round of combat as a simple equation;
Average Damage * Chance To Hit = Average Damage per round
Lets assume for the example a Sword dealing 1-6 damage with a 50% chance to hit for our baseline.
Average of 1d6 (3.5) * 50% = 1.75 Damage per round
Now for Dagger dealing 1-4 damage per round attacking the same target with the same chance to hit.
Average of 1d4 (2.5) * 50% = 1.25 Damage per round
If we wanted to match the variable damage numbers in a game with d6 damage for all weapons we need to change the chance to hit. Rounded to the nearest integer with a multiple of 5, for use with a d20.
Average of 1d6 (3.5) * 35% = ~1.25 Damage per round
While not identical both methods produce results similar enough to be used at the table.
Now we have gone over how I have seen it handled in game, adjust the To Hit roll or the Damage roll, but there is another variable available to play around with. Variable Armor Class for each weapon. Instead of having to check a table with every attack roll, you could write down the side of your character sheet what needs to be rolled for your armor to be hit by each weapon. Functionally it's the same as adjusting the To Hit roll but instead of applying a bonus or penalty to a roll you are applying it to the target value for a hit. As far as I know no OSR or D&D derived games use a mechanic like this, but there could be something to be said for all attack rolls to be an unmodified d20 and damage rolls being an unmodified d6.
What kind of rules do you use at your table? All d6 with adjustments To Hit, or Variable weapon damage? Let me know in the comments, I'm curious what the predominant style is.
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