In the case of an Armorer Artificer in the Guardian style, if he applies Enhanced Weapon to his armor, would it affect one or both of his gauntlets? Lets assume he has the Dual Wielder feat so he could attack with both on the same turn? I've seen lots of conflicting opinions on the matter. Some say it affects both until level 9 when each armor piece become separate in regards to infusions. Some say it always affects both. Some say it only ever affects one gauntlet. Which would you rule?
Are you looking for how someone else might rule or the RAW answer - my ruling first, RAW below.
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For a game I was running, I'd rule that the infusion affects both gauntlets. It doesn't break the game and is more favorable to the person choosing to play an artificer. The only benefit that it really provides is the option to dual wield the thunder gauntlets if they are willing to take the dual wielder feat (since gauntlets don't count as light weapons). Other than that, since all their attacks can be made with one gauntlet, it won't have a significant impact on actual play and it would make more sense to me.
Especially if you consider that pretty much every other magic item that is worn on the hands or feet comes in pairs - it makes more sense (to me at least) to allow the infusion to be applied to both. In addition, if the artificer applies an infusion to the boots - it applies to both boots.
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However, if you are looking for a strictly RAW interpretation ..
Enhanced Weapon says: Item: "A simple or martial weapon"
Thunder gauntlets says: "Each of the armor’s gauntlets counts as a simple melee weapon while you aren’t holding anything in it, and it deals 1d8 thunder damage on a hit."
The enhanced weapon infusion applies to ONE weapon while EACH of the armor's gauntlets separately counts as a simple melee weapon. Since Enhanced weapon can only apply to ONE weapon - only one of the gauntlets can be enhanced.
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The complication caused by the level 9 ability is that prior to this the entire armor set is considered one item so it you apply the Enhanced weapon infusion to the suit of armor - is one or both gauntlets affected? They are still clearly separate weapons but since they are a part of the same suit of armor and the infusion gets applied to the armor - should the enhancement apply to both gauntlets? The answer to this is DM call ... it is entirely up to the DM ... they could read RAW as stating Enhanced weapon can only apply to one weapon and the gauntlets are clearly two weapons so even if the infusion is applied to the armor, only one gauntlet is affected. Alternatively, a DM could rule that since it is the entire suit of armor is affected by the infusion, and both gauntlets are part of the armor - the entire suit constitutes the weapon and both gauntlets are affected since they are both a part of the one suit even if they might be considered two separate weapons at other times. Since neither of these is conclusively supported by RAW - the decision would be up to the DM and how they choose to interpret it.
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In the case of an Armorer Artificer in the Guardian style, if he applies Enhanced Weapon to his armor, would it affect one or both of his gauntlets? Lets assume he has the Dual Wielder feat so he could attack with both on the same turn? I've seen lots of conflicting opinions on the matter. Some say it affects both until level 9 when each armor piece become separate in regards to infusions. Some say it always affects both. Some say it only ever affects one gauntlet. Which would you rule?
Are you looking for how someone else might rule or the RAW answer - my ruling first, RAW below.
----------------------
For a game I was running, I'd rule that the infusion affects both gauntlets. It doesn't break the game and is more favorable to the person choosing to play an artificer. The only benefit that it really provides is the option to dual wield the thunder gauntlets if they are willing to take the dual wielder feat (since gauntlets don't count as light weapons). Other than that, since all their attacks can be made with one gauntlet, it won't have a significant impact on actual play and it would make more sense to me.
Especially if you consider that pretty much every other magic item that is worn on the hands or feet comes in pairs - it makes more sense (to me at least) to allow the infusion to be applied to both. In addition, if the artificer applies an infusion to the boots - it applies to both boots.
-------------------------------
However, if you are looking for a strictly RAW interpretation ..
Enhanced Weapon says: Item: "A simple or martial weapon"
Thunder gauntlets says: "Each of the armor’s gauntlets counts as a simple melee weapon while you aren’t holding anything in it, and it deals 1d8![]()
thunder damage on a hit."
The enhanced weapon infusion applies to ONE weapon while EACH of the armor's gauntlets separately counts as a simple melee weapon. Since Enhanced weapon can only apply to ONE weapon - only one of the gauntlets can be enhanced.
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The complication caused by the level 9 ability is that prior to this the entire armor set is considered one item so it you apply the Enhanced weapon infusion to the suit of armor - is one or both gauntlets affected? They are still clearly separate weapons but since they are a part of the same suit of armor and the infusion gets applied to the armor - should the enhancement apply to both gauntlets? The answer to this is DM call ... it is entirely up to the DM ... they could read RAW as stating Enhanced weapon can only apply to one weapon and the gauntlets are clearly two weapons so even if the infusion is applied to the armor, only one gauntlet is affected. Alternatively, a DM could rule that since it is the entire suit of armor is affected by the infusion, and both gauntlets are part of the armor - the entire suit constitutes the weapon and both gauntlets are affected since they are both a part of the one suit even if they might be considered two separate weapons at other times. Since neither of these is conclusively supported by RAW - the decision would be up to the DM and how they choose to interpret it.