I must say that I have zero experience with this feat, but since no one else has replied yet...
I feel like this feat is in some serious need of errata. It doesn't even tell you how long this bonus lasts, or exactly what kind of action it requires. And I don't see how this would give you a bonus to any enemies who aren't even paying attention to what you're doing. I see this feat only giving you an AC bonus against enemies that you are directly interacting with. These are all my opinions, though.
It seems that you have to declare that you are using this feat, then move from light into shadow and back again (or vice versa). You get a dodge bonus to AC equal to however many 10ft increments you moved during this time.
I would assume that you could use a move action if you are close enough to the shadow/light that you are moving in and out of, but unless you have a crazy base speed you would only ever get +1 AC at most. You could double move to get a higher AC bonus, but then you would give up your standard action for the round.
There are definitely better ways to get a little bump to AC than this feat. It seems entirely way too dependent on your environment. I would rather just put 3 ranks into Acrobatics, take an attack penalty, and fight defensively.
I too had to look up this feat, its an odd one. I agree it would be a move to use it.
If you looked at it as two squares labeled A & B set up next to each other you can picture it.
AB
Start in square A, move to square B (5 feet so far) back to square A (10 feet now), gain +1 AC. If you had 50 foot movement naturally, you could pull off +5 ac from a move action, which I guess is pretty decent. I could really see this feat being useful to some sort of mage that kept up his AC, kept up expeditious retreat, and had a variety of light and darkness spells to make sure battle field suited the feat.
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Just do everybidy can see it
Prerequisites: Dex 13, worshiper of Norgorbor.
Benefit: You are able to use the light around you to move back and forth from shadow to light again, and your sudden shifting dazzles your enemies’ eyes. By spending a number of feet (in 10-foot increments) when you use this feat to move from one square to another and back again, you gain a Dodge bonus to your AC. This bonus is equal to +1 for every 10 feet you spend moving like this. You do not provoke an attack of opportunity while using this ability. Enemies who do not use sight in order to pinpoint your location or who are otherwise able to locate you more precisely (such as creatures that possess blindsight, tremorsense, or true seeing) ignore this AC bonus. Likewise, this feat is ineffective in areas of darkness or bright light, where one cannot readily shift between light and shadow
Based on the text, it looks like you have to move from one square to another, which would be a move action. So I'd interpret it as being part of a move action.
Be part of moving, not necessarily a move action. I could see this used with spring attack for instance. 20 feet away from some guy, spring in, dance around in front of him and gain +3 AC. The kicker would be you have to actively designate the movement you are spending to be specifically used only for the purposes of this feat. Like I said, weird feat. Needs some tidying.
How the...what....but how.....IT'S RIGHT THERE IN THE TEXT, PEOPLE!
"when you use this feat to move from one square to another and back again".
How the...what....but how.....IT'S RIGHT THERE IN THE TEXT, PEOPLE!
"when you use this feat to move from one square to another and back again".
We all gathered that. You don't have to be a smart alec. This feat leaves some room for interpretation, though. It mentions the word move and spending 10ft increments, but most feats will tell you "as a move action" or "as part of a move." This one isn't so obvious, and hence the OP's issue. And as I mentioned before, no where does it states for how long this bonus applies. For all we know, you can jump in and out of shadow/light just once in your campaigning life and gain a bonus to AC forever or until you attempt to do it again for a bigger bonus.
Moving more than 5' is clearly a move action, no doubt about that.
Perhaps with some other feats like step up and whatever and a 5' step in some situations you could forego the moveaction, but that doesn#t matter.
More important you need to switch between shadow and normal light or two different lighting conditions, what could make practical use difficult sometimes. As an archer its of course easier, because you don´t need to stand next to your foes.