I would have thought this would come up sooner, but c'est la vie. The consensus seems to be that item bonuses to Handwraps of Mighty Blows applied to Trips and Grapples in 1e, but not in 2e, and I can find no reason why--more importantly, it defies common sense to say they wouldn't. Before you just hit "reply" without reading further, hear me out.
A weapon potency rune increases a weapon's accuracy to strikes. When making an unarmed strike, your body is the weapon; to say otherwise is a logical fallacy. Your hand, foot, tail, or face is being used as a formed shape and product of leverage to perform damage. Since you can't tattoo a weapon rune on your skin, you put them on handwraps, that go over your skin.
So here we go:
A Hook Sword with a +1 potency rune gets a +1 to its ability to Strike a target.
Handwraps with a +1 potency rune gets a +1 to your hand's ability to Strike a target.
A Hook Sword has the ability to be used to trip a target, because it has the Trip trait.
A Free Hand is normally used to trip a target, so while not listed, it is directly inferred that your hand has the Trip trait.
The Trip maneuver states that a weapon with an item bonus to attack rolls applies that bonus to the maneuver.
A Hook Sword with a +1 potency rune that is used to Trip instead of Strike applies the bonus to the Trip maneuver.
Handwraps with a +1 potency rune where your hand is used to Trip instead of Strike SHOULD apply the bonus to the maneuver.
The logic is sound. It's fundamental, and not in any way convoluted. So why is it thought otherwise? My GM has tried to explain with definitions of Unarmed Strikes and the like, but nothing contradicts the fundamental posit that you body must be regarded as a weapon, with traits, when performing an attack roll or maneuver with it, and therefore subject to the item bonus rules.
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Your hand does not have the Trip trait. And the RAW is clear : bonus to attack rolls does not apply to Trip maneuvers skill checks unless your weapon has the Trip trait.
You can homebrew otherwise, but I think that, by your reasoning, your hand should then get the Trip, Shove, Disarm, Grapple traits, in addition to the Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, Unarmed traits it already has. Which then makes it far better than even Advanced weapons.
Too good to be true.
And that is not even taking into account that the Handwraps boost all your unarmed attacks. Even ranged ones if you have them.
Your hand does not have the Trip trait.
Then a "free hand" shouldn't be able to perform a trip action, despite it being written as a requirement. The rules on how traits work seems fairly clear.
And your hand doesn't have the Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, and Unarmed traits, your Fist does, which in the event of considering your hand to be a transforming weapon, would not have the Trip, Shove, Disarm, and Grapple traits while in "Fist form".
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Your hand does not have the Trip trait.Then a "free hand" shouldn't be able to perform a trip action, despite it being written as a requirement. The rules on how traits work seems fairly clear.
And your hand doesn't have the Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, and Unarmed traits, your Fist does, which in the event of considering your hand to be a transforming weapon, would not have the Trip, Shove, Disarm, and Grapple traits while in "Fist form".
You are treating a lot of different terms as if they are interchangeable.
Weapons
A weapon can not be used to Trip, Shove, Disarm, and Grapple unless it has those weapon traits. If it does have those traits then those athletics attacks gain the higher item bonus from the weapon's potency runes or from Armbands of Athleticism.
Unarmed Attacks
An Unarmed Attack is not a weapon, but like a weapon it can not be used to Trip, Shove, Disarm, and Grapple unless it has those weapon traits. If it does have those traits then those athletics attacks gain the higher item bonus from the weapon's potency runes or from Armbands of Athleticism.
Free Hand
Your free hand is neither a weapon nor an Unarmed Attack so it can not have the Trip, Shove, Disarm, and Grapple weapon traits. But a free hand can perform the Trip, Shove, Disarm, and Grapple attacks because the rules specifically say that it can. Potency runes can't be applied to a free hand, but it can gain the item bonus from Armbands of Athleticism.
I'm just seeing iteration without consideration. If a potency rune directs a weapon to strike with more accuracy and trip with more accuracy, and it also directs your hand or handwraps (considering they are the thing that makes foreign contact) to strike with more accuracy, it logically stands to reason that it directs your hand to trip with more accuracy.
Unarmed Attacks
However, unarmed attacks aren’t weapons, and effects and abilities that work with weapons never work with unarmed attacks unless they specifically say so.Because unarmed attacks aren’t weapons.
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Handwraps of Mighty BlowsSource Core Rulebook pg. 611 2.0
These handwraps have weapon runes etched into them to give your unarmed attacks the benefits of those runes, making your unarmed attacks WORK LIKE MAGIC WEAPONS.
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If your unarmed attacks have the trip trait, yes.
Unarmed Attacks
However, unarmed attacks aren’t weapons, and effects and abilities that work with weapons never work with unarmed attacks unless they specifically say so.Because unarmed attacks aren’t weapons.
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Handwraps of Mighty Blows
Source Core Rulebook pg. 611 2.0
These handwraps have weapon runes etched into them to give your unarmed attacks the benefits of those runes, making your unarmed attacks WORK LIKE MAGIC WEAPONS.
Unarmed attacks are not weapons.
Unarmed Attacks
Almost all characters start out trained in unarmed attacks. You can Strike with your fist or another body part, calculating your attack and damage rolls in the same way you would with a weapon. Unarmed attacks can belong to a weapon group (page 280), and they might have weapon traits (page 282). However, unarmed attacks aren’t weapons, and effects and abilities that work with weapons never work with unarmed attacks unless they specifically say so.
But the bigger issue is that a "free hand" is not an unarmed attack. If you believe that it is then please cite the text that says so.
If your unarmed attacks have the trip trait, yes.
Unarmed attacks aren't even in question. Bringing them up is a straw man that leads to a circular argument of its own sort. The thing in question is why runes that apply to maneuvers in one case do not apply to maneuvers in a similar, but functionally identical parallel case. The answer is simple: because the devs haven't defined what the character body that performs both maneuver and unarmed strikes to be, except in the case of very specific attacks, like a Brontosaurus Tail attack, because it normally seems extraneous to do so. But in this case, it's very relevant, and people seem to be accepting a contradiction of logic with no thought or support to WHY that contradiction exists beyond "I guess the developers thought it would be balanced?"
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If your unarmed attacks have the trip trait, yes.Unarmed attacks aren't even in question. Bringing them up is a straw man that leads to a circular argument of its own sort. The thing in question is why runes that apply to maneuvers in one case do not apply to maneuvers in a similar, but functionally identical parallel case. The answer is simple: because the devs haven't defined what the character body that performs both maneuver and unarmed strikes to be, except in the case of very specific attacks, like a Brontosaurus Tail attack, because it normally seems extraneous to do so. But in this case, it's very relevant, and people seem to be accepting a contradiction of logic with no thought or support to WHY that contradiction exists beyond "I guess the developers thought it would be balanced?"
There is no facing in the RAW either. Because the rules are a balanced simplification and not a detailed but unbalanced simulation.
It works better this way, even when it makes "less sense".
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But it's not. We know under what conditions the developers have decided you can benefit from potency runes when performing maneuvers: when you have the appropriate trait.
That is basically the only thing having the trip trait on an unarmed attack even does in the first place.
So to answer whether you get to add the bonuses from your potency runes to your trip check, you look to see if you have the trip trait.
If the answer is yes, you do. If the answer is no, you don't.
There's no contradiction here, no broken anything, no strawman. Just a yes or no.
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I honestly don't understand the confusion. As I outlined earlier, weapons, unarmed attacks, and free hands are three entirely different game objects governed by three different sets of rules.
If you want one item that grants benefits to athletics checks weapons, unarmed attacks, and free hands then buy Armbands of Athleticism.
Let me reiterate my original post in a more concise way:
Handwraps of Mighty Blows state they convey the function of runes to unarmed attacks. That wording is used because handwraps can't be attached to a weapon like an axe, so the term is used to specify attack rolls made with the character's person, but they are attack rolls all the same. The Trip maneuver reads that the thing doing the tripping, if it is capable of tripping, can use bonuses that benefit attack rolls with that same thing will also benefit the Trip action.
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Let me reiterate my original post in a more concise way:
Handwraps of Mighty Blows state they convey the function of runes to unarmed attacks. That wording is used because handwraps can't be attached to a weapon like an axe, so the term is used to specify attack rolls made with the character's person, but they are attack rolls all the same. The Trip maneuver reads that the thing doing the tripping, if it is capable of tripping, can use bonuses that benefit attack rolls with that same thing will also benefit the Trip action.
I begin to understand your confusion. I suspect that you are using the old version of the CRB. The attack roll language was updated in the second printing. Athletics checks are not attack rolls.
Page 446: Attack Rolls. There was some confusion as to whether skill checks with the attack trait (such as Grapple or Trip) are also attack rolls at the same time. They are not. To make this clear, add this sentence to the beginning of the definition of attack roll "When you use a Strike action or make a spell attack, you attempt a check called an attack roll."
To clarify the different rules elements involved:
An attack is any check that has the attack trait. It applies and increases the multiple attack penalty.An attack roll is one of the core types of checks in the game (along with saving throws, skill checks, and Perception checks). They are used for Strikes and spell attacks, and traditionally target Armor Class.
Some skill actions have the attack trait, specifically Athletics actions such as Grapple and Trip. You still make a skill check with these skills, not an attack roll.
The older language was confusing. As an example, it led many of us, myself included, to believe that you could use Dex for Athletics checks if you were using a finesse weapon.
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The Trip maneuver reads that the thing doing the tripping, if it is capable of tripping, can use bonuses that benefit attack rolls with that same thing will also benefit the Trip action.
I've looked over page 243, and I can't find that language about adding bonuses in the Trip action. Where are you seeing it?
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There are a few types of unarmed strikes that do (under circumstances) have the trip trait:
If you’re flanking a target while in Wolf Stance, your wolf jaw unarmed attacks also gain the trip trait.
A bit more straightforward:
You enter a stance of fluid grace as small amounts of water flow with your movements and attacks. You can make flowing wave attacks that deal 1d6 bludgeoning damage. They are in the brawling group and have the agile, disarm, finesse, nonlethal, trip, unarmed, and water traits.
Other unarmed strikes don't have the trip trait, and therefore don't get the effect of the trip trait that lets you apply your handwrap bonus to tripping.
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For me the fact that unarmed attacks are sometimes given traits like trip, disarm, and so on is proof that without those traits you don't get the bonus from Handwraps of Mighty Blows for that action, otherwise there would be no point in the trait being there.
I know this isn't a solid argument for RAW in and of itself, but I think that's been sufficiently covered above, and it makes it incredibly clear that it's RAI.
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As noted by previous posters, the ability to add your potency runes to your trip attempts is specifically granted by the Trip weapon trait, so it does not apply to weapons and unarmed attacks without this trait: Source
Core Rulebook pg. 283 2.0
If your unarmed attack has the Trip trait, then you can apply your handwraps' potency bonus. Otherwise, you'll have to get Armbands of Athleticism or a similar item that buffs your Athletics checks.
The basic idea seems to be if your unarmed attack style doesn't have a particular 'trip' affinity, you can't really use it to trip: You can still attempt to trip normally, but you aren't really using your body as a 'weapon' anymore so your handwraps don't help you.
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You can get your item bonus to athletics with bare hands if you're using ABP alternate rule.
You can get your Skill Potency (Athletics) bonus (asuming you have it) but not your Attack Potency bonus: Maneuvers are skill checks, not attack rolls.
Gamemastery Guide pg. 196 Starting at 2nd level, you gain a +1 potency bonus to attack rolls with all weapons and unarmed attacks. This increases to +2 at 10th level, and +3 at 16th level.Source
This distinction is why you can't use Dexterity on your check when trying to trip with a finesse+trip weapon (the finesse trait specifically only applies to attack rolls).
EDIT: Gisher quoted the appropriate errata a few posts up.
Let me reiterate my original post in a more concise way:
Handwraps of Mighty Blows state they convey the function of runes to unarmed attacks. That wording is used because handwraps can't be attached to a weapon like an axe, so the term is used to specify attack rolls made with the character's person, but they are attack rolls all the same. The Trip maneuver reads that the thing doing the tripping, if it is capable of tripping, can use bonuses that benefit attack rolls with that same thing will also benefit the Trip action.
I begin to understand your confusion. I suspect that you are using the old version of the CRB. The attack roll language was updated in the second printing. Athletics checks are not attack rolls.
The older language was confusing. As an example, it led many of us, myself included, to believe that you could use Dex for Athletics checks if you were using a finesse weapon.Page 446: Attack Rolls. There was some confusion as to whether skill checks with the attack trait (such as Grapple or Trip) are also attack rolls at the same time. They are not. To make this clear, add this sentence to the beginning of the definition of attack roll "When you use a Strike action or make a spell attack, you attempt a check called an attack roll."
To clarify the different rules elements involved:
An attack is any check that has the attack trait. It applies and increases the multiple attack penalty.An attack roll is one of the core types of checks in the game (along with saving throws, skill checks, and Perception checks). They are used for Strikes and spell attacks, and traditionally target Armor Class.
Some skill actions have the attack trait, specifically Athletics actions such as Grapple and Trip. You still make a skill check with these skills, not an attack roll.
I think you are wrong to point the finger at the language. The real problem is the concept. It is a bad outcome that the designers have made the distinction between attack trait, attack roll, and skill roll with the attack trait. It would have been very easy to make the same outcome clear by explicit langauge in the finesse trait.
Overloading a common term like "attack" is just confusing and bad. Example: character level and spell level which has plagued this hobby since the beginning.
Much better would have been to get rid of the extra uses of the attack trait so all attacks were actually attack rolls, and replace it by a MAP trait so you would know that the MAP penalty applied to a Trip skill check even though it wasn't an attack roll.
While I appreciate the time and attention taken to place responses, at this point I'm just moving on. As Jared Walter 356 said, people are just giving RAW answers, which in this context is not seeing the forest for the trees. No matter how I try to explain the broader picture, I'm just getting definitions of individual components of the explanation. When I feel like I need to include a picture of an arm hitting something to try and get a point across, things are past the point of efforts in absurdity I'm willing to go to to express a grievance with what I consider to be an exchange of common sense and in-universe functionality for equipment balance.
My GM has long since come to see the discrepancy I've been explaining, and it's up to her whether to keep it in place in what is presumed to be the spirit of Paizo's intent to limit the boons granted by HoMB, or give in to common sense because she knows how much I hate when a ruling only exists to keep people from extracting too much versatility.
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You did post in the Rules forum. It is natural and expected that people give RAW answers. So that later readers can be sure what the rules say.
And really, it is not about versatility which is quite encouraged by the PF2 system. It is about power, which is indeed curtailed.
But that is a (welcome IMO) feature. Not a bug.