So far in EA we only have boots and gloves up to medium armor.
If Gale equips medium armor gauntlets he can't cast anything.
I would assume a barbarian can't rage as well, unless there's a bug.
I also assume that heavy armor boots and gloves are the ones that will properly align with the plate armors or equivalent. Because now nothing aligns properly, but since plate armors are technically not in the game yet i can only wonder what they plan. Maybe the assets are not finalised, and need polishing.