Ok, lets go through this.
Crane style. I'm not quite sure of your question here. Are you asking: "Can I charge an enemy and attack defensively?" The answer is no. Charge is a full-round action, and fight defensively is either a standard action or a full-round action. If you charge, you are not fighting defensively.
As far as at the start of combat, you cannot start a fight in crane style. You have to spend a swift action to activate a style, and so if someone attacks you before your turn, you cannot have crane style active.
Panther style and lightning stance. Lightning requires you to either use 2 move actions, or a withdraw action to become active. Panther style lets you use a swift action to make a retaliatory strike at someone taking an AoO against you for movement. Panther claw makes it a free action and panther parry makes your attacks resolve first. You are spending either a swift (if you only have panther style) or a free (with panther claw) action to make the attack, not a standard action, so these work together fine. Remember you can only provoke from each opponent once for movement.
Snake style. A) This replaces your AC, you are correct that any bonuses from crane would not stack with the sense motive check. If you had skill focus (sense motive) those bonuses would because they increase the result of your check. B) You are correct that you can choose to use the result as your AC, but not required to.
So crane style specializes in defensive fighting. Some of my party members seems to think that i cannot pre-emptively start fighting defensively. They imagine it as me charging the enemy then taking a defensive stance and waiting to be attacked...which i suppose makes sense...for total defense, but not fighting defensively as you can still attack, your just more focused on defense then offense.
That's an unfortunate interpretation on their part. It's pretty easy to demonstrate that you can initiate attacks while fighting defensively, because you are required to attack in order to fight defensively! In fact, it might be more accurate to call it "attacking defensively".
Here are a couple quotes from the combat rules to help you, "You can choose to fight defensively when attacking." and "You can choose to fight defensively when taking a full-attack action."
Second, panther style, i wanted to combine it with lightning stance, but i was told that i cannot move, stop, attack, move as attacking requires you to stop moving (their words, not mine) and lightning stance requires you to spend all your move actions.
Panther style doesn't cause your movement to stop. For proof, look at the next feat in the chain, Panther Claw, which allows you to make multiple retaliatory strikes for moving out of threatened squares. How would you provoke multiple times if you had to stop moving the first time you provoked?
Third snake style first ability when you are targeted by a attack, i can roll sense motive and use it for AC, im A) assuming this does NOT stack with cranes added defenses for fighting defensively/total defense and B) that i can CHOOSE to use the roll, i dont have to use it.
A) you're right, it doesn't stack with anything, it replaces your AC.
B) Yes, you get to choose whether to roll or not. You can tell from the wording that it's optional, "when an opponent targets you with a melee or ranged attack, you can spend an immediate action to make a Sense Motive check."
B) Yes, you get to choose whether to roll or not. You can tell from the wording that it's optional, "when an opponent targets you with a melee or ranged attack, you can spend an immediate action to make a Sense Motive check."
Not only is rolling optional, but using the roll is also optional. "You can use the result as your AC or touch AC against that attack."
B) Yes, you get to choose whether to roll or not. You can tell from the wording that it's optional, "when an opponent targets you with a melee or ranged attack, you can spend an immediate action to make a Sense Motive check."Not only is rolling optional, but using the roll is also optional. "You can use the result as your AC or touch AC against that attack."
Nice catch! I had never noticed that.
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Tarantula and Blueluck have already pretty much covered this, but:
So crane style specializes in defensive fighting. Some of my party members seems to think that i cannot pre-emptively start fighting defensively. They imagine it as me charging the enemy then taking a defensive stance and waiting to be attacked...which i suppose makes sense...for total defense, but not fighting defensively as you can still attack, your just more focused on defense then offense.
You are correct - fighting defensively does not require you to respond to a specific threat or that you be attacked first. You can choose to fight defensively whenever you take a standard action to attack or a full-attack action. It just means that you're being cautious when you attack so as not to leave yourself open to someone else's attack.
Second, panther style, i wanted to combine it with lightning stance, but i was told that i cannot move, stop, attack, move as attacking requires you to stop moving (their words, not mine) and lightning stance requires you to spend all your move actions.
Retaliatory strikes work fine with lightning stance. Lightning Stance requires you to spend two actions to move (or withdraw) but it doesn't prevent you from using swift or free actions or taking AoO, and Panther Stance gives you retaliatory strikes as a swift action (or free action with panther claw).
Third snake style first ability when you are targeted by a attack, i can roll sense motive and use it for AC, im A) assuming this does NOT stack with cranes added defenses for fighting defensively/total defense and B) that i can CHOOSE to use the roll, i dont have to use it.
Correct on both points.