=D
Okay, I'm going to talk a lot now.
Basically, weapon choice, taking a shield or not, etc depend on your build, and what you want to do.
On shields: spriggans are fragile as all get go, and while you will always be nice and evasive, a buckler gives you second live of defense and drastically increase your survivability. If you can, equip a buckler. Even a +0 vanilla one, you can always trade it in for one with a resists or reflection when you're lucky enough to find one (and spriggans are already shot equipment slots for resists- so having the shield slot useable helps). The only real difficulty is bucklers can be hard to find early, and yo have to get to skill 9 with a -3 aptitude penalty to get rid of all the melee speed, damage, and casting penalties. (So there's a heavy opportunity cost in skill points to training it up). The tricky bit is getting to lvl 1- let a weak rat or something smack your shield under automatic skill training until you've weighted a good chunk of your xp towards your lvl 0 shields skill, then go kill some things. Remember that if the penalties are problematic for you, you can unequip your buckler, keep it in inventory, and keep training shields until you feel ready to use it (this won't take necessarily till skill lvl 9- that's just when the penalties go to 0. Depending on your int and spell skills, you may be able to cast in a buckler safely earlier).
The only reason you should
not equip a buckler is if (a) you're putting it off because you have a better place to spend your skill points for the moment, or (b) you want a two handed weapon. Now, I'll tell you that mele spriggans are probably better off going 1 handed, but you
can make it to Zot with a 2H SpBe if you really wanna. For caster spriggans though, staffs are an excellent two handed option, and can increase your damage output enough to be worth not taking a buckler.
Weapon choice: stabber spriggans should use a dagger (maximize stab), or maybe a quick blade (less stab, but more hits). Mele spriggans (generally berserkers or hybrids) can go short blades (quick blade for moar speed or a nice sabre for the base damage), maces and flails (whip, until you can find a demon whip. Slightly slower than the short blades, but more base damage), or go into long blades if you really want to spend the points and sacrifice the shield advantages (even slower, but better base damage). Blaster-casters may want an elemental staff, both because of the spell power boost and that they are awesome in mele one you get staves, evocations, and your elemental spell school trained up. But they can take a short blade or whip with a buckler instead, for the benefits of shields and potential randart weapons (there are no randart magical staffs).
I also find it kind of helps to choose your planned weapon type early on, since delaying your choice or changing you mind wastes skill points. Of course a good enough find early enough can make your change your plans or break the general outline I just gave, but it still doesn't hurt to think ahead.
Rods aren't weapons you fight with. They're tools you switch to, evoke spells from, and then switch back. Auto-recharging wands that need to be wielded to work. Don't bother using them in mele.
On ranged weapons: if you're a blaster (wizard, elementalist, conjurer, etc) you don't need to- you have your spells to do that, and you may not have the points to spare. You may still want to though. If you're a non-caster, or a hybrid that uses buffs and utility spells instead of direct damage, then by all means yes. Ranged attacks are a great solution to low hp, and you can kite wonderfully with spriggan speed. I'd rather sling a hydra to death than try to mele it with a flaming dagger, that's for sure! (ignoring stabs). Slings are probably the best option, especially since they synergize with your buckler (though it
is possible to use a bow or xbow if you really wanna). Steel ammo for damage, silver for chaotic things, a few rocks for jellies, and poison for kiting. Blowguns are great early on, but curare is in short supply later in the game, and poison becomes less useful. You can go full on needle-stabber though- train up throwing, and go to Oka or Trog for needles of sleep and paralysis- they work even on demons!
That's all the words I can dump for now. I am entirely too enamored with Sprigs.