Small Fighters

You know, small characters really do get the shaft.

Not only do they have to use smaller weapons than other characters, which do less damage (Both of which make sense, except that the ranges of ranged weapons should also be reduced...) , not only do small characters have a reduced movement rate (which makes sense), and not only do they have reduced carrying capacity (75% of Medium characters, which again makes sense), but both Halflings and Gnomes suffer a -2 penalty to Strength because "they are small and therefore not as strong as other humanoids".

This, of course, means that they suffer a net -1 penalty to hit (which counters the +1 size bonus they get), -1 to damage, and have even more reduced carrying capacities (and, therefore, movement rates). This in turn makes them less suitable for a lot of classes:

Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger (dual-wield), Monk: for reasons that should be obvious.

Cleric: Harder to use heavy armour, and less suitable for use as a secondary combatant, the Cleric's role in a small party.

Rogue: Low movement rate makes getting into position for sneak attacks difficult, not to mention the problem of scouting when the rest of the party are all faster than you.

Frankly, it's just not good. The only competitive small fighter concept I could see easily was the finesse fighter, but that means using a rapier, which drops the base damage to only 1d4! It's just ridiculous.

To be honest, I don't think the -2 Strength penalty is needed. The reduced carrying capacity, movement rate, and damage from small weapons all take care of the issues thus involved. Instead, I propose the following:

Halflings: No ability adjustments. Halfling dexterity is represented by their various skill bonuses.

Gnomes: +2 Con -2 Wisdom. This plays to the archetype of the gnome as the trickster, a role not noted for great wisdom. Sadly, this also makes them more succeptible to magic, but I guess you can't have everything, can you?

So, what do you think?

Addendum: I also think there should be a martial equivalent of the sling. Essentially the same stats, except that the damage should be two steps higher (1d8 for Medium, 1d6 for Small). The Halfling bonus to using slings should apply. This would give Halfling fighters a missile weapon to use that isn't a bow. And yet they wouldn't automatically choose it - the bow still has a better critical multiplier. Call it the staff-sling, the hoopak, or whatever takes your fancy.