"The rest of the time, daggers do similar damage."
Then they are better than ordinary weapons, outright :P
No ^^
Spears can pierce through an enemy and hurt another behind, when it happens, it does bonus damage (15 degree cone, twice the range, or 1.5x).
Swords can hit an enemy in a 90 degree cone in front, and do bonus damage to an enemy nearby too, like the spear (but not hitting behind).
Axes do have more critical chances.
Staffes can hit an additional in a 180 degree cone.
Two handed weapons do more damage and have more range, but require more strength or slow your movement down a little. Similar bonuses than one handed weapons for 2H swords and axes.
Daggers have opportunist.
Other than the bonus, weapons do similar damage (but two handed more). One handed weapons can be dualwielded (similar damage than two handed, lesser range but lower requirement and doesn't slow your movement). Or you can equip a shield to get 30%-50% block chance (max 1 successful block per turn, plus one if you weren't the target: intercept).
One handed specialization brings damage close to two handed natural if not dualwielding nor shield.
Two handed specialization gives crit damage bonus.
Dualwielding removes the penalty from dualwielding (natural penalty on both hands or perhaps just the "secondary" hand), so you get similar boost than 2H specialty.
Shield specialization raises your block chance, and if shields slow you down, it removes the slow penalty.
