Stacking soft cover bonuses

[Ayanzo]

This recently came up during a session and I'd like to get a definitive ruling on it.

If say you're an archer shooting through 2 of your allies towards a target not in melee; does the target get a +4 AC bonus or +8 AC bonus?

The first assumes that the AC is a bonus of type 'cover' and does not stack.

The second assumes that cover is a type of circumstance bonus that is untyped (or circumstance) and can be stacked.

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

They get +4. It's not a matter of bonus type or stacking in a normal sense, it's that you either have cover (soft or otherwise) or you don't. If you do you get an (untyped) +4.

(If by 'definitive ruling' you mean one from Paizo you will not get that because they don't have time to deal with all the gamers looking for such rulings. But I'm sure other non-Paizo people will chime in and they'll all agree with me! Right?)

[Ayanzo]

I've heard or other things such as improving the cover rating pending on the obstacles or number of occupied squares you are shooting through.

Else it would seem odd that shooting through 5 ally vs 1 is considered the same amount of cover.

[Create Mr. Pitt]

Soft bonus refers to a single bonus from creatures. It's a particular condition, not a stacking penalty. Were it to be otherwise it would specify. If there's soft cover, there's soft cover and you take the penalty. There are no references to different levels or strengths of soft cover. It is a binary proposition with a single penalty.