+2 AB/DMG is nice but far from critical/vital. A fighter is going to hit stuff more often than not, even without the bonus to hit from the gloves. Something that is critical or vital is something that the class requires or it Cripples the class. Example? Wizard without a spell book. Witch without a familiar. Cleric without a holy symbol (no spells). Inversely, Druids with metal armor.
If you're looking at big numbers changing things, a bane baldric for an inquisitor may count in the mid-levels. A furious weapon for a barbarian at any level. Magi really like their pearls of power.
Merciful vambraces expand a paladin's condition healing ability a great deal, but I'm not sure it's a game-changer.
@Name Violation: Druids can get barding instead of wild armor.
That's usually something like a 20-30% damage increase against most targets (especially tough enemies). If Barbarians had an item that said "Your melee attacks now do 25% more damage" you don't think that would be rather key?
Wait what? At what level? This is a 15,000 go magic item, something that would be rare for an 8th level character to possess (investing heavily into one magic item), and it's 25% of their damage? Two more points of damage per hit? Sorry, but... What?
I think we're getting bogged down in terminology here. Something not as fundamental as a wizard's spellbook but still something that the class is balanced around.
Ok, you didn't use the right terminology. That happens. However, this item is from the Ultimate Equipment book. The class was not balanced around it. It does help even the playing field, though. There really shouldn't be any item that a class has to have to function properly (magic anyway) but there are plenty that improve their performance.
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That's usually something like a 20-30% damage increase against most targets (especially tough enemies). If Barbarians had an item that said "Your melee attacks now do 25% more damage" you don't think that would be rather key?Wait what? At what level? This is a 15,000 go magic item, something that would be rare for an 8th level character to possess (investing heavily into one magic item), and it's 25% of their damage? Two more points of damage per hit? Sorry, but... What?
The +2 to attack boosts damage much more than you think
At 8th level a Fighter should have +8 Bab +6 Str +2 GWF +2 Magic +1 WT -3 PA for a full attck: +16/+11.
With a Greatsword they should be dealing 2d6 + 9 Str +2 Magic +2 WS +1 WT +9 PA, so 30 damage per hit.
The average AC for a CR8 baddie is 21 according to the Bestiary, so we're looking at:
80% hit with first attack * 30 damage + 10% crit * 80% hit * 30 damage and
55% hit with second attack * 30 damage + 10% crit * 55% hit * 30 damage
= 44.55 damage per full attack.
With +2 attack/damage
90% hit with first attack * 32 damage + 10% crit * 90% hit * 32 damage and
65% hit with second attack * 32 damage + 10% crit * 65% hit * 32 damage
= 54.56 damage per full attack.
54.56/44.55 = 22.5% more damage.
+2 AB/DMG is nice but far from critical/vital. A fighter is going to hit stuff more often than not, even without the bonus to hit from the gloves. Something that is critical or vital is something that the class requires or it Cripples the class. Example? Wizard without a spell book. Witch without a familiar. Cleric without a holy symbol (no spells). Inversely, Druids with metal armor.
As of AWT the +2 to weapon training is less about the hit/damage and much more about the effect it has on numerous options from WMH. Its 2 more uses of warrior spirit 2 higher initiative 2 more uses of limited combat feats, etc etc etc.
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What other classes have such critical/vital items that they're massively weaker without? Not talking about generic stuff like Headbands of Intelligence for Wizards, talking about items outside of the "Big 6."
Amulet of Mighty Fists for a Monk who goes unarmed or a Druid who uses a lot of wild shape, perhaps.
Scrolls, in general, for Wizards. More so even than Pearls of Power.
Some Clerics get good usage out of a Phylactery of Positive Channeling. Negative channeling, IMO, is kind of a trap, so the corresponding phylactery, not so much (although some of the negative variant channeling options are great for debuffing).
There are some classes/archetypes built specifically to work with one weapon
Rapiers and knives are the most common ones me thinks.
Occultists are kinda the class this idea most fits considering implements.
I feel like a casting stat headband on a full caster is as if not more important than gloves of duelling to a fighter and furious weapons to a barb. And worth mentioning because many full casters won’t care much about the rest of the big six.
Lance is pretty big for mounted charge builds.
The thing about magi and pearls of power is that they're the 6-level caster who is most likely to cast a spell every round, a shocking grasp magus especially. A full caster may have the spell slots to do that without assistance, other 6-level casters mostly don't get anything like spell combat so face a choice between attacking and casting spells (or other actions for some), and spellcasting is not a major focus for 4-level casters.
Iff your GM agrees that a decoy ring makes you invisible as per the generic ability and not as per the spell (which the item doesn't reference) then it can be a game-changer for rogues.
Speaking of Rogues. If you want to make long-ranged sneak attacks, it's gonna cost you 20,000.
A kineticist may end up spending over half of their WBL on their belt.
Metamagic rods for casters. Silent, Dazing, Persistent, and Quickened come to mind.
paladins have smite or LoH gloves
cavaliers have challenge gloves and a challenge banner
Monks Robes are a staple for just about every monk I've seen play.
Along those lines, Druid's Vestment for nearly all druids and feral hunters.
Fortuitous for any build that uses a reach weapon/goes big. This enhancement works 1/round, and it basically gives you a single iterative to your AoO. So when some fool tries to cross your threatened area, you can activate this ability to get a full BAB and BAB-5 attack.
Two attacks with a two handed reach weapon is enough to make reach weapons rather dangerous. So it is extra damage, and also a fantastic deterrent- your GM might have to rework his entire fight just to have minions die on your spear to distract you.
Since reach builds thrive off of AoO damage and being a living obstacle, this just puts that into overdrive.
While reach weapons are the most common users of this enhancements, you might see it work well for builds that can go large easily- a goliath druid would love one.
Additionally, it could also work on other builds that are AoO centric- this would be more trick builds with maneuvers or weird feat combos. Example- a hunter might want a keen fortuitous falchion, since their crits give their AC with outflank a free AoO, and the paired opportunist feat gives the hunter an AoO when their AC gets one- that means they can get an AoO off of their own crit. (god- this could just turn into a blender build, since they could crit again off of the two AoOs with a fortuitous weapon)
Headsman's Blade for Slayers is pretty nice.
For Mesmerists you’d be crazy not to get a Mesmerizing Tattoo (additional -1 will penalty on your stare) and a Mask of the Mesmerist is pretty good.
Witch: Hexing Runes, Corset of Dire Withcraft if it does increase DC, Rod of Voracious Hexes and Rod of Abrupt Hexes. Especially the last one is high level item, but significant boost in power (up to 6 Slumber in one round).
Sorcerer/Oracle: Mnemonic Vestment - the item basically makes those classes Tier 1.
Brawler: Versatile Design weapon modification.
Monks Robes are a staple for just about every monk I've seen play.
13k for an average of something like 1.5 AC and 1.5 unarmed damage. I wouldn't call them vital.
this item is from the Ultimate Equipment book. The class was not balanced around it.
Actually, it was - not the vanilla Fighter, obviously, but I do believe the Advanced Weapon Training options were balanced around Gloves of Dueling. The options that scale off the WT bonus generally need WT+2 to be on par with mere feats, so to have them at proper class feature power level, you basically need the gloves.
Some Clerics get good usage out of a Phylactery of Positive Channeling. Negative channeling, IMO, is kind of a trap, so the corresponding phylactery, not so much (although some of the negative variant channeling options are great for debuffing).
The negative one could be seen as must-have for Elder Mythos Cultists, which is all but tailor made for channeling.
A decoy ring makes the wearer invisible for 3 rounds when they withdraw or become helpless. The item doesn't require the invisibility spell to make, it requires mislead which uses greater invisibility. The bit about becoming visible when you make an attack is part of the invisibility spell, not the general definition of invisibility.
Assuming that you go by RAW it looks like a rogue could withdraw on the first round of combat to become invisible (and to move to a useful place), then stab away happily. Once they can afford 12K anyway.
Oh yes, more about the gloves of dueling- even if you argue that fights might not need them as much, other classes might have a need for them.
Soheis are an archetype for the core monk that does a few things- gives mounted feats as an option, lets you use light armor while flurrying, access to martial weapons... and it gives weapon training and the ability to flurry with your weapon group (limited to bows, spears, throwing, monk, etc).
The weapon training for them only goes to +3. But if you have gloves of dueling... they can actually hit just as well as the unchained monk, even when they are not using flurry (15+5; it also accounts for lower damage from power attack). With flurry, they actually outpaces the unchained monk for attack/damage.
And since the sohei can use spears or bows for their flurry... they can flurry fairly consistently.
Without the gloves, they are a bit more 'meh' in terms of numbers, particularly since they have to deal with the -2 of flurry.