fighting defensively and aiding another?

[zauriel56]

Can you fight defensively and aid another with the -4 penalty? Fighting defensively allows you to still attack so I didnt know.

[thorin001]

No. Aid Another is a specific standard action, not an attack. Just like you cannot Cleave or Vital Strike while fighting defensively.

[Komoda]

I think the case could be made to "Aid Another" to attack someone and fighting defensively at the same time. But you surely can't "Aid Another" to perform a skill check, say heal, while fighting defensively.

[Splendor]

Quote:

Aid Another

In melee combat, you can help a friend attack or defend by distracting or interfering with an opponent. If you're in position to make a melee attack on an opponent that is engaging a friend in melee combat, you can attempt to aid your friend as a standard action. You make an attack roll against AC 10. If you succeed, your friend gains either a +2 bonus on his next attack roll against that opponent or a +2 bonus to AC against that opponent's next attack (your choice), as long as that attack comes before the beginning of your next turn. Multiple characters can aid the same friend, and similar bonuses stack.
You can also use this standard action to help a friend in other ways, such as when he is affected by a spell, or to assist another character's skill check.

Quote:

Fighting Defensively as a Standard Action: You can choose to fight defensively when attacking. If you do so, you take a –4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC until the start of your next turn.

Since both require a standard action you can't.

[Diego Rossi]

Splendor wrote:

Quote:

Fighting Defensively as a Standard Action: You can choose to fight defensively when attacking. If you do so, you take a –4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC until the start of your next turn.

Since both require a standard action you can't.

Fighting defensively don't require to spend a standard action, it require you to attack, using a standard action to do that, or to make a full attack, using a full round action to do that. Then you can use figthing defensively as part of the attack of full attack action.

You can't combine them because using the Aid another actions isn't an attack, not because fighting defensively require a standard action (it don't require that).

You shouldn't take a piece of the rule without looking the context in which it appear.

The contest is the Attack section of the rules.

PRD wrote:

Attack

Making an attack is a standard action.
...
Fighting Defensively as a Standard Action: You can choose to fight defensively when attacking. If you do so, you take a –4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC until the start of your next turn.

If it was a standard action this wouldn't be possible:

PRD wrote:

Full Attack
If you get more than one attack per round because your base attack bonus is high enough (see Base Attack Bonus in Classes), because you fight with two weapons or a double weapon, or for some special reason, you must use a full-round action to get your additional attacks.
....
Fighting Defensively as a Full-Round Action: You can choose to fight defensively when taking a full-attack action. If you do so, you take a –4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC for until the start your next turn.

[tony gent]

I would say yes you can as the rules state you can fight defensively and do a full attack which is a full round action
Edit as explained more thoroughly in the post above thank you Diego Rossi