The one thing that I didn't like is that I feel like spears aren't as defensive as they use to be, but it could have just been the gnome aspect of mid dex/low str. Daggers on the otherhand performed so much better than I thought. I concealed like crazy, I could hit artery and throw majority of the time and stab was about 70-80% reliable. Learning skills were a breeze though. Hamstring usually hit on the second attempt if I used it, but most times STSF kicked in with most opponents that it wasn't a necessity. It's hard to tell from my perspective but I thought I did well even against the elven races that also used daggers.

I think one time if I prepped with shield instead of just prot evil and SS, I could have beat Durnot in a fight and I was surprised how quick STSF worked on smart races and in most fights when it got all 5 tics, I was almost untouchable in some fights.

I can't say there was a much better choice than spear/dagger, because gnomes don't lag very well with bash/trip and with Autumn I sure didn't use bash. Misdirect was my skill to use in lagging situations and when it worked, it was great and in some cases sealed a few kills.