Questions on Sacred Shield Paladin Archetype

[Drothmal]

Hello!

I am currently playing a Sacred Shield paladin in a Kingmaker game and I have run into two questions that might need clarification

1) What type of action does it take to activate the Holy Shield ability?

Relevant text
"At 4th level, a sacred shield can channel her faith into her shield, protecting any nearby allies. All allies adjacent to the paladin gain a shield bonus equal to the sacred shield’s own shield bonus, including any increase from the shield’s enhancement bonus. This bonus does not stack with any existing shield bonuses. The paladin herself radiates light as a light spell while the shielding is active.

At 11th level, this protection expands to cover any allies within 10 feet and the radiance increases to the effects of a daylight spell.

At 20th level, any allies within 20 feet are protected. Using this ability consumes two uses of the sacred shield’s lay on hands ability, and the effects last for 3 rounds plus a number of rounds equal to her Charisma bonus (if any).

This ability replaces channel positive energy."

I can see an argument being made for being a standard action since it replaces channel positive energy, another standard. But I have to say that anything above a move action would make the ability rather sub par

2) What is the extra deflection bonus from Bastion of Good for a level 4 paladin?

Relevant text (emphasis mine)
"At 1st level, a sacred shield can call upon the powers of good to defend her and her allies against evil. This ability functions as smite evil, except that the paladin gains no benefit on attack or damage rolls against her target. Instead, any attacks the target makes against allies within 10 feet of the paladin deal half damage. Attacks against the paladin deal full damage, but the paladin gains a deflection bonus to her AC equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) against attacks made by the target of the smite. This bonus increases by +1 for every four paladin levels (to a maximum of +6 at 20th level). As with smite evil, if the paladin targets a creature that is not evil, her bastion of good ability is wasted with no effect. Feats, abilities, and the like that increase a paladin’s number of uses of smite evil per day increase a sacred shield’s uses of bastion of good per day.

This ability replaces smite evil."

I always thought that "by every four levels" meant that you have increases at levels 1,5,9,13,17.

But for the maximum to reach +6 at level 20, you must get increases at levels 1,4,8,12,16,20

Is the maximum incorrect or I am not understanding what every four levels means?

[MurphysParadox]

1) It is a standard action exactly like channel positive energy. You still are channeling, but instead of positive energy it is magic shield bonus. Might even be allowed to push for some of the channel energy feats to effect this ability. It is actually pretty decent because you're giving everyone anything from +2 to +6 AC. It isn't amazing but not everything in the game can be.

2) It is (level / 20) + 1. So yes, it is a +2 at level 4. Note it says "+1 for every four paladin levels". At fourth level you have four paladin levels thus you get another +1 to the bonus. This is different than saying it goes up every four levels, which would be the 1, 5, 9... advancement.