Yup.
Yup.I thought so, but did not see anything about it the the description of the gauntlet one way or another.
Was there a FAQ on this, or language in the rules somewhere that I missed?
Is it really a problem? It is a metal glove - of course you can use a bow, just as you can also use a sword. Or do you say anyone in medium or heavy armor can't wield a weapon? Because those armors come with gauntlets as well.
|
Yup.I thought so, but did not see anything about it the the description of the gauntlet one way or another.
Was there a FAQ on this, or language in the rules somewhere that I missed?
Do any part of gauntlets infer that any normal weapon can't be wielded? That's the question you should be asking, not if they FAQ specifically says that you can wield a bow with them
Can you fire a bow while wearing gauntlets?
"Medium and heavy armors (except breastplate) come with gauntlets."
Do you think only light armored or non-armored in the game are meant to use a bow?
I mean, people who are archery enthusiasts in real life (target shooters, bowhunters, hunger games superfans, etc.) often wear leather gloves to protect their fingers from getting blisters (which really hurts your accuracy). So if you can shoot in a leather glove IRL, since Pathfinder is not intended to be a perfectly accurate representation of real world combat styles (i.e you can swing a greatsword all day and not get tired, you can shoot a bow like 8 times in six seconds, etc.) being able to shoot in metal gloves is not really a stretch.
You can, but I would think it would make it harder as you would need less finger movement to release the string with the metal gauntlet than leather gloves. You wouldn't know where on your finger tip the bow string was actually sitting unless you looked at it.
The string would slip across the smooth metal easier than the more giving and textured leather. That is generally why you don't see full plate Knights using bows...
Fingerless gauntlets?
A specialised archer in PF tends to wear light armor anyway - the max dex bonus to AC doesn't directly affect archery, but it makes it unnecessary to wear heavier armor when you have a very high dexterity.
Fingerless gauntlets?
I've always believe that for a given item you can describe it however you want and still get the same mechanical benefits (provided your description is identifiable as what it is.)
So if you want your gauntlets to be less protective in certain places because you don't think archery would work otherwise, then just say so. You'll still be able to ball up your fist and punch someone without provoking (I think, is that gauntlet FAQ ever going to happen?)
No rule exists forbidding it.
And some historical gauntlets don't actually enclose the fingers, like these ones:
Maximilian gauntlets
Presumably, you would wear some sort of leather gloves under these. Since even modern archers often wear some form of finger guards for the three fingers holding back the bowstring, I would assume leather gloves wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
Fingerless gauntlets?I've always believe that for a given item you can describe it however you want and still get the same mechanical benefits (provided your description is identifiable as what it is.)
So if you want your gauntlets to be less protective in certain places because you don't think archery would work otherwise, then just say so. You'll still be able to ball up your fist and punch someone without provoking (I think, is that gauntlet FAQ ever going to happen?)
That is basically it.
BTW, I used to have a beautiful archery partial glove, that was little more than sealskin fingerpads for the three fingers that held the string. It allowed for very smooth releases, which was very helpful when using 100 lb+ bows. Actually, I used it with my normal 80 lb bow and stopped getting calloused, numb fingertips.
A specialised archer in PF tends to wear light armor anyway - the max dex bonus to AC doesn't directly affect archery, but it makes it unnecessary to wear heavier armor when you have a very high dexterity.
Erastil's Blessing feat. Take this your need for Dex drops to just feat prerequisites. I think you just need a 17 for manyshots so that means you could wear a normal Tatami-do [heavy armor] AND get all your dex bonus to AC. You start throwing mithral into the mix, even higher dex characters are fine: a mithral Chain coat [medium armor] is good to 25 dex. Add nimble mod and that's 29 dex. Swift Iron Style and/or fighter Armor Training bumps that even farther.
So there are 2 ways a "specialised archer" could wear medium+ armor.
EDIT: the archery ranger style makes it a lot easier to go without Dex, as Improved Precise Shot and Manyshot can be yours without a dex requirement.