If you need a boost, go ahead and charm the gloves. I held off on using charms (except for once) until I had better equipment, but by then I didn't need the charms I had collected. I used a gold strength charm (dropped by the dragon rider that Zandalor killed during our first encounter) in order to equip the sword dropped by the knight south of Stormfist castle.
However, I would only use silver or gold charms. Gold charms are rare before you move on to the final area of the game, but you can find or buy silver charms (good merchants to check would be Kistandalius or Blake in Ars Magicana and Corinna or Mpenzak in Verdistis).
Before choosing which charms to use, you may want to check out either of the following topics, for a description of the secondary stat calculations.
differences between classes (minor spoilers)
or
Early Starter Tips (NON-Spoiler Version) (contains much of the information in the above topic)
If you quick save before running your mouse over an item/chest/merchant or hitting the alt key, you can identify the item or trade with the merchant, then quick load to get different stats or inventory. This can be done repeatedly to get the best stats or specific bonuses on an item (save after finding good candidates) or looking for specific items (such as spell books or charms) from merchants. Don't waste too much time with this, though, it really isn't necessary to get the best possible equipment.
The armour value helps determine how much damage you take if you are struck in that area of the body, though I don't think the Larians released a description of the exact calculations.
BTW, these are the gloves I finished the game with;
Gloves Of The DragonDurability 28
Charm Quality 1
Armour 220
4 Agility
2 Intelligence
2 Constitution
80 Vitality
60 Magic
20 Resistance to Lightning
4 Sight
4 Hearing
Aura Of Command +1
