So I want to make a character that uses unarmed and I was wondering if once I get the perk for gauntlet AR DAM is it better to raise my HA LVL or should I just rely on smithing to raise my gauntlets AR?

Also I thought I read somewhere that punching with HA gauntlets will raise your HA skill. Is this so?

And I do not plan on wearing full HA. Just on my hands.

That perk is misleading. it is only based off of the gauntlets "base" AR and not the total AR, form improvements.

Oh well that completely screws me up. Now I am going to have to find a way to raise my HA without wearing HA.

As an unarmed character, you'll want a minimum of 30 Heavy Armor for the perk, as you already know. You'll definitely want 100 Enchanting to enchant the unarmed damage. I understand you don't plan on using Heavy Armor except on your hands, what will you be using for your defenses?

Also, an unarmed character is probably one of the only situations where using a Restoration glitch to increase your unarmed enchants up a bit to make your fists hit harder is understandable, because at higher levels 60ish damage (if you're Khajiit) to an ancient dragon isn't exactly fun. (Although you probably won't get THAT high up considering you aren't using as many skills) Just don't go overboard on it if you decide to go this route or it will ruin the fun. Good luck!

Oh, you'll still level up Heavy Armor using only gauntlets, it will just be at a much slower rate than using 4 pieces of HA.

Well the plan is to have Archery as my main attack but use Unarmed and Illusion if things get into close combat situations.

The only way to really increase unarmed damage is the fortify unarmed enchant. The only way to raise it the enchant strength beyond the maximum is to use alchemy.

Question if i have a glove and ring with both fortify unarmed will they stack?

Eyup.