| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Benefit: This metal glove lets you deal lethal damage rather than nonlethal damage with unarmed strikes. A strike with a gauntlet is otherwise considered an unarmed attack. Your opponent cannot use a disarm action to disarm you of gauntlets.
So I've seen a couple of Gauntlet threads, and know that Gauntlets attacks are something completely different than Unarmed Strikes. But even so, it's a bit unclear for me.
If I attack with a Gauntlet (and want to benefit from Enhancement bonuses), can I choose to deal nonlethal damage as if I hit with an Unarmed Attack?
Probably. Expect table variance, ask your GM, YMMV, etc...
|
Yes. You can choose to deal non-lethal or lethal damage with gauntlets. The description says:
This metal glove lets you deal lethal damage rather than nonlethal damage with unarmed strikes.If it replaced non-lethal with lethal it would say something like,
This metal glove deals lethal damage rather than nonlethal damage with unarmed strikes.
A strike with a gauntlet is otherwise considered an unarmed attack.
This is just keeping non-melee characters from putting on a pair of gauntlets and threatening for flanks.
A strike with a gauntlet is otherwise considered an unarmed attack.This is just keeping non-melee characters from putting on a pair of gauntlets and threatening for flanks.
Huh. That actually makes a lot of sense.
Yes. You can choose to deal non-lethal or lethal damage with gauntlets. The description says:This metal glove lets you deal lethal damage rather than nonlethal damage with unarmed strikes.If it replaced non-lethal with lethal it would say something like,This metal glove deals lethal damage rather than nonlethal damage with unarmed strikes.
As far as I understand it, you wouldn't apply your Unarmed Strike damage (from Monk/Brawler) to Gauntlets because they're not Unarmed Strikes. Which means that the first sentence isn't relevant to Gauntlet attacks.
That's what makes me hesitant since dealing nonlethal or lethal is a property of (Improved) Unarmed Strikes, whereas the description of the Gauntlet defines it as an Unarmed Attack.If it's only considered an Unarmed Attack for the purposes of Threatening and provoking AoO's, then I suppose I wouldn't be able to deal nonlethal damage with a Gauntlet (if I attack with the Gauntlet).
A gauntlet can do non-lethal damage by taking the standard -4 to hit just like any other weapon.
Ah, yeah. I meant in the context of Unarmed Strikes/Attacks.
*
Normal weapons can deal nonlethal damage with a -4 penalty.
Weapons with the Nonlethal weapon quality can only deal Nonlethal damage, but does so at no penalty.
Those with Improved Unarmed Strike can choose whether to deal Lethal or Nonlethal damage with their Unarmed Strikes, both without penalty.
*
My question was if the Gauntlets allow you to choose between dealing nonlethal/lethal damage without penalty, or if that's only a property of Unarmed Strikes.
If I use the Gauntlet to make an Unarmed Strike (and deal Nonlethal), I won't benefit from any Enhancement bonus on the gauntlet because the Enhancement bonus only applies to Gauntlet attacks. And when I use a Gauntlet to attack, I wondered in what ways the Gauntlet is considered an Unarmed Attack. Dajur had a pretty logical answer, which leads me to the conclusion that if I attack with the Gauntlet it's considered its own weapon and is completely separated from Unarmed Strikes.