"On your combat check, reveal to add 1 and the Melee and Piercing traits; you may additionally reload to add 1d4. You may not play weapons or Attack spells on this check."
The above limitation makes no sense, as by the time I play SG (during Modify Your Check step), I already can HAVE played Weapon or Spell during Determine Your Skill step, and potentially even in the Modify Your Check step, just before the Gauntlet...
.., which is a completely fine omission to me, as it makes zero sense for Spiked Gauntlet to block me (does the YOU there also block other characters??) from playing FREELY weapons and spells.
In my head-cannon, the wording here should be something like "You may not play this card if you have played a weapon or Attack spell on the check." (which would block these during Determine Your Skill step, but allow Freely weapons and Attack spells to be played *after* the Gauntlet) - but I seek confirmation of intent here.
You play Spiked Gauntlets during Play Cards and Use Powers That Affect Your Check.
The restriction is twofold:
1. If you have previously played a weapon or Attack spell on the check, you are not allowed to play Spiked Gauntlets.
2. If you have not previously played a weapon or Attack spell, then play Spiked Gauntlets, you are not allowed to subsequently play such a weapon or Attack spell.
It only blocks you. Other characters can play weapons or Attack spells on your check, pursuant to the regular one card of each type restriction.
The restriction is twofold:
1. If you have previously played a weapon or Attack spell on the check, you are not allowed to play Spiked Gauntlets.
Sorry if my non-native English is misleading me, but where do you get that? "You may not play" to me definitely means "now or in the future", and does not at all concern if and what have I played in the past. Is the use you suggest a valid use of the phrase?
Whilst I reluctantly agree that "you may not play" implies a present/future tense in English, these kinds of cards have existed for as long as PACG has (see Amulet of Mighty Fists in RotR) and there generally hasn't been confusion that, no, you cannot use a sword and then reveal Amulet of Mighty Fists.
I would probably say that there's no way to reword it without adding more text to the card, which is probably undesirable. Like "You may not use this power if you have played a weapon or an attack spell on this check and you may not play a weapon or an attack spell on this check".
I think we just have to acknowledge that, though there are technically 'steps' defining when you are playing boons, all of the steps of a check are one "collective" set of actions that can potentially impact one another. This is a bit like the chicken and egg situation with cards piercing immunity, because I always asked .
That specific corner-case is actually now covered, as of the Core rules, but the intent was always clear. All of your actions within a single check generally care about all of your other actions - you can't play an item if you've already played an item. You can't play a card that forbids you from using a weapon if you've already used a weapon. Etc.
TL;DR: I agree with Longshot's position from an analysis of the English language, but I feel the intent of these cards have been sufficiently clear since Rise of the Runelords, and don't necessarily think that it needs a rewrite.