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I'm looking at getting this cool looking feat called Shrug On for my Armor Master. It says:
"As a full-round action, you can shrug yourself into the largest and most protective section of a suit of armor with which you are proficient. The armor does not grant any magical benefits in this state, and its armor check penalty and maximum Dexterity bonus to AC are both 2 worse than normal. When donned using this feat, medium armor grants a +3 armor bonus, and heavy armor grants a +5 armor bonus."
And so, I'm curious how this inter-plays with Dodge which states:
"You gain a +1 dodge bonus to your AC. A condition that makes you lose your DEX bonus to AC also makes you lose the benefits of this feat."
My thinking is that it either works one of two ways:
1) I'm not necessarily losing DEX to AC it as if something made me flat-footed rather my DEX is just being penalized
2)So long as I have at least a +1 to my DEX in AC, Dodge should take effect because Shrug On was not able to completely cancel out my DEX mod
Maximum dex bonus to AC does not remove your ability to dodge, so it has no effect on anything that adds to your dodge bonus. All the max dex bonus means is if you have a high (relatively high) dex bonus, you will not get the full benefits of it.
For example, even a dex 10 (no dex bonus) character can take the dodge feat to gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC - regardless of what type of armor they are wearing.
I agree with the above.
Beyond that though, do you really find yourself attacked when not wearing armor so often that it is worth a feat, and one that is arguably worse than just spending 50 gp on an armored coat?
For example, even a dex 10 (no dex bonus) character can take the dodge feat to gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC - regardless of what type of armor they are wearing.
That is, of course, assuming that you can find a way to get around the Dex 13 requirement of the Dodge feat itself.
But your main point stands -- Max Dex does not affect dodge bonuses in any way.