Hello,
I wanted to check one idea I had for a build, involving the Aldori Swordlord fighter archetype and the Crane Style from UC. At level 7, the swordlord gets the "steel net" ability instead of the second armor training, and it states that when s/he fights defensively as a full-round action (as in, during a full attack), the penalty to attack is decreased by two, and the bonus to AC is increased by the same amount.
Now, the crane style feat states that when fighting defensively, you only get a -2 penalty to attack, and your dodge bonus increases by +1. As I am reading it, this implies that when an aldori swordlord with steel net and the crane style feat fights defensively as a full-round action, s/he gets no penalty to attack, and +5 AC bonus to defense. The penalties' reduction might stack as crane style sets them at -2, while steel net reduces them by two. The bonuses to AC are dodge bonuses, ergo they stack.
It strikes me as quite powerful, but legal by the rules. Note the character must not carry anything in his off hand as per the swordlord archetype, so he would be missing on a shield (but arguably could use the sword two-handed).
Having nothing in your offhand requires not two handing the sword to qualify.
It's pretty cool, but you also have to spend a feat on IUS, making it two feats and a class feature to get +5 dodge bonus, and only on a full attack. That doesn't sound overpowered to me.
EDIT: You could have grabbed a shield and taken Improved shield focus and have armor training instead of swordlord to improve your max dex and increased your AC by 5 that way as well.
Having nothing in your offhand requires not two handing the sword to qualify.
It's pretty cool, but you also have to spend a feat on IUS, making it two feats and a class feature to get +5 dodge bonus, and only on a full attack. That doesn't sound overpowered to me.
EDIT: You could have grabbed a shield and taken Improved shield focus and have armor training instead of swordlord to improve your max dex and increased your AC by 5 that way as well.
Aldori dueling mastery increases your AC via +2 or +1 (depending on whether you have your off hand free or using the sword two-handed) and I imagine the presumption is that you are using light or mithral medium armor. With a mithral shirt, you will probably need to pump dexterity quite a bit to max it out.
I was basically looking at this in how it works for making a single-weapon fighter with a two-handed option. In terms of AC alone, via the armor training substitution (+1 AC at levels 3,7,11,15,19) you should have enough to outpace a heavy armor fighter with a mithral shirt. With dueling mastery and the steel net/crane strike, you should probably compensate for the bonus the shield would give you and any enhancement it would have. Note that the Aldori Swordlord features do not work if you have a shield in your off hand. The one weakness of the archetype is Disarming strike - trading your first weapon training for being able to do (limited) damage on a disarm is rubbish imo. Regular WT, even only with an Aldori sword, is much better imo.
At first, the PrC seems to start not quite unlike the singleton fighter archetype, and imo it also starts losing steam with higher-level abilities. I'd consider that, I'd consider going for the duelist PrC for further AC bonuses, including if you fight defensively; they generally mash fairly well together, especially if you have decent intelligence (which you probably would, if you want to use the disarm-related feature fully). A pity precise strike only applies against living creatures with discernible anatomy (i.e. not undead, golems and the like PF allows you to crit or sneak attack), but in this case it may be acceptable.
As I see it, it could be a pretty hard to hit one-handed fighter - presuming a duelist multiclass after level 9, you'd get +2 AC from defensive parry (on a full attack), +5 AC from fighting defensively with steel net/crane strike (another +2/3 when you get the duelist feature), +2 shield AC from dueling mastery, +2 (probably notably higher) AC from canny defense, and then you add your dodge feat, dexterity, etc. If you take the other crane style feats you can ignore one attack per round (likely the most dangerous one) and make an attack with opportunity via crane riposte, possibly another via the duelist riposte - considering you already have IUS, couldn't you take TWF/ITWF and sacrifice your off-hand unarmed attacks? The duelist PrC states you shouldn't attack with your off hand, the Swordlord archetype states you shouldn't carry anything with it.
Granted, that will take quite a few feats - dodge, mobility, weapon finesse, ADM, IUS, the 3 crane style feats, and you'll likely have power attack, weapon focus and weapon specialization. 11 feats, and that's before toughness, iron will or combat reflexes (though you could take it with duelist levels). Your damage output is so-so - one-handed weapon with power attack and precise strike. Do you think it's good enough? What if you stay swordlord and use the extra feats, weapon training etc to boost your damage output? You gain weapon training, feats, the masteries, and AoOs when hit, but lose on precise strike, canny defense, elaborate defense etc - basically get more offense and feats, less defense and skills.
Aldori dueling mastery increases your AC via +2 or +1 (depending on whether you have your off hand free or using the sword two-handed) and I imagine the presumption is that you are using light or mithral medium armor. With a mithral shirt, you will probably need to pump dexterity quite a bit to max it out.
I was basically looking at this in how it works for making a single-weapon fighter with a two-handed option. In terms of AC alone, via the armor training substitution (+1 AC at levels 3,7,11,15,19) you should have enough to outpace a heavy armor fighter with a mithral shirt. With dueling mastery and the steel net/crane strike, you should probably compensate for the bonus the shield would give you and any enhancement it would have. Note that the Aldori Swordlord features do not work if you have a shield in your off hand. The one weakness of the archetype is Disarming strike - trading your first weapon training for being able to do (limited) damage on a disarm is rubbish imo. Regular WT, even only with an Aldori sword, is much better imo.
At first, the PrC seems to start not quite unlike the singleton fighter archetype, and imo it also starts losing steam with higher-level abilities. I'd consider that, I'd consider going for the duelist PrC for further AC bonuses, including if you fight defensively; they generally mash fairly well together, especially if you have decent intelligence (which you probably would, if you want to use the disarm-related feature fully). A pity precise strike only applies against living creatures with discernible anatomy (i.e. not undead, golems and the like PF allows you to crit or sneak attack), but in this case it may be acceptable.
As I see it, it could be a pretty hard to hit one-handed fighter - presuming a duelist multiclass after level 9, you'd get +2 AC from defensive parry (on a full attack), +5 AC from fighting defensively with steel net/crane strike (another +2/3 when you get the duelist feature), +2 shield AC from dueling mastery, +2 (probably notably higher) AC from canny defense, and then you add your dodge feat, dexterity, etc. If you take the other crane style feats you can ignore one attack per round (likely the most dangerous one) and make an attack with opportunity via crane riposte, possibly another via the duelist riposte - considering you already have IUS, couldn't you take TWF/ITWF and sacrifice your off-hand unarmed attacks? The duelist PrC states you shouldn't attack with your off hand, the Swordlord archetype states you shouldn't carry anything with it.
Granted, that will take quite a few feats - dodge, mobility, weapon finesse, ADM, IUS, the 3 crane style feats, and you'll likely have power attack, weapon focus and weapon specialization. 11 feats, and that's before toughness, iron will or combat reflexes (though you could take it with duelist levels). Your damage output is so-so - one-handed weapon with power attack and precise strike. Do you think it's good enough? What if you stay swordlord and use the extra feats, weapon training etc to boost your damage output? You gain weapon training, feats, the masteries, and AoOs when hit, but lose on precise strike, canny defense, elaborate defense etc - basically get more offense and feats, less defense and skills.
Just remember that canny defense is considered a dexterity bonus, so it's capped by your armor (A rule I hate, but that's the way it is), you may want to invest in celestial chain. And I don't think the rules allow for dumping an offhand attack for riposte, since you would have to count as twf, meaning your offhand isn't free, even if it failed to make attacks. I certainly wouldnt allow it, and I believe the rules don't either.
Its definitely an interesting combo, I would focus on disarming, tripping, that sort, more than power attack, and use my high defense plus combat reflexes and riposte attacks to neutralize opponents. Disarm them with your duelist riposte and floor them with the crane style. Pretty flashy. Maybe not the best strategy for dragons, but you'd be king of the duelists, and you've still got a high ac and decent damage for the dragon.
EDIT: You forgot that ADM has a few feat prereqs like quickdraw.