One more post on the nature of armor, then we'll move on. I swear.
This is another short one. Let me quote from Low Tech: Instant Armor: "Enclosed mittens and gloves protect vs. cold, heat, contact poison, etc., but give Bad Grip 1(p. B123). (Gauntlets lack this note – they’re open-palmed, negating both the benefit and the drawback.)"
Let's briefly discuss what this means. First of all, this means that anyone using mittens or low-tech gloves effectively has a -2 to their combat skills involving anything but unarmed striking, since that's essentially what Bad Grip does. -2 might not sound like a whole lot, but remember, 3d6 is a bell curve. For a user with skill 12, this drops his chance to hit by 24%! Wow. That's abysmal, especially in armored combat where tough hit locations will be targeted all the time.
Well, you can use gauntlets to get around this, as stated. However, note what that note says. All gauntlets are completely open palmed... and the benefits of having gloves on are negated. That means your gauntleted character has bare skin in contact with his blade. He is vulnerable to frostbite, burns, contact poison smeared on a doorknob...
Take a look at that image at the top. There are curiously few images available of modern reproduction gauntlets on the underside; I suppose this is because it isn't very photogenic. Even so, if you google 'gauntlet' you can easily note how leather gloves are almost universally a thing worn underneath them, often affixed permanently to them. Would a contact poison get through these gloves? Are they so whisper-thin that they do nothing against cold?
Even if you wear leather gloves under your gauntlet, Low Tech will tell you the same thing - Low Tech gloves give Bad Grip 1. I guess it's a choice between frostbite and not being able to swing your sword.
I understand low-tech gloves and mittens having Hamfisted. That makes perfect sense. I have a pair of kevlar gauntlets for swordfighting training, and I could end up standing there for a few minutes if I really tried to take my keys out of my pocket without taking them off first. However, Bad Grip is extremely excessive, especially for a leather glove. Even a mitten will do many things to you, but I highly doubt that it will subtract 24% from your chance to hit.
If this was true in reality, the instant someone put any kind of leather gloves or mittens on, their combat performance would measurably and noticeably decrease. Instead, when I put those kevlar gloves on, my performance improves. My hand-sweat is no longer interfering with the operation of my waster. These gloves have no high-tech grippy bits, they are completely smooth on the underside aside from a machine stitching line. And they're not exceptionally well fitted for me, either.
So, how do we fix this? Very simple:
-Gloves and gauntlets of any type do not give Bad Grip if they provide only DR 0 or DR 0*. Any palm armor that provides DR 1 or higher provides Bad Grip 1.
-Gauntlets do not protect the palm by themselves, but can be combined with other armor. If your gauntlets have a built-in leather glove, as most do, buy the glove as a Combination Gadget with the gauntlet. Otherwise, simply wear gloves under your gauntlets. 'Gloves' and 'Gauntlets' are separate armor location (hand front, hand back, you could think of it) and do not incur a layering penalty.
-Ordinary Low-Tech gloves give Hamfisted 1 if worn alone, unless they are made Expensive as per Low-Tech - in which case they provide no penalty.
-The total amount of Hamfisted for gloves and gauntlets cannot exceed Hamfisted 2.
I'm not, myself, entirely convinced that DR 1 on the palms automatically drops combat performance so much, but really, at some point, this becomes a gripe against Bad Grip rather than against Low-Tech armor. Perhaps in a future post I will cover my 'never-ever disadvantages' and how to improve them.
For now, though, may your grip on your sword be ever secure!
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