Aldori Dueling Mastery and Defensive Parry

[Gruby]

Hi!

For Kingmaker AP I'm currently playing in I want to build a level 3 Fighter with Aldori Defender Archetype and Aldory Dueling Mastery feat.

So...

Aldori Dueling Mastery Adventurer's Guide pg. 24, Pathfinder Campaign Setting pg. 67, Inner Sea World Guide pg. 284) says:

As long as you wield only a single Aldori dueling sword in one hand (not using a shield, an off-hand weapon, armor spikes, unarmed strikes, or natural weapons), you gain a +2 shield bonus to your AC. If you wield the sword in two hands, this bonus drops to a +1 shield bonus to AC.

At the same time Defensive Parry (Ex) ability for Aldori Defender archetype (Adventurer's Guide pg. 22, Inner Sea Primer pg. 24) says:

At 3rd level, when an Aldori defender makes a full attack with an Aldori dueling sword, he gains a +1 shield bonus to his AC against melee attacks until the beginning of his next turn. This bonus increases to +2 at 7th level, +3 at 11th level, and +4 at 15th level.

And Defensive Parry (Ex) for Aldori Swordlord prestige class (Adventurer's Guide pg. 20, Paths of Prestige pg. 4) says:

At 3rd level, an Aldori swordlord gains a +1 dodge bonus to his AC when making a full attack with an Aldori dueling sword. This AC bonus increases to +2 at 7th level. If an Aldori duelist is also a fighter with the Aldori defender fighter archetype (see page 22), levels in this class stack with his fighter levels when determining the AC bonus from this ability.

I am little confused. If same type of bonus doesn't stack, does it mean that Aldori Dueling Mastery cancels Defensive Parry bonus from archetype, and another confusion comes that two abilities for archetype and prestige class which are intended to work in synergy have same name but different bonuses.

Is there maybe some errata I missed?

Thanks in advance.

[Meirril]

Stacking rules are fairly complex. Some bonuses stack, no matter what the source is. Others don't stack even when the source is different.

Shield bonuses fall into the generally doesn't stack category. Honestly the Aldori Dueling Mastery feat gives bonuses to initiative, and the shield bonus is constant, unlike the one from Aldori Defender which only gives you a shield bonus when you make a full attack. So its kind of worth taking even if it doesn't stack.

You can make a strong argument that the shield bonus from the Aldori Defender is a circumstance bonus. You only get that bonus when you make a full attack action. That is a bonus from a circumstance and they normally stack with any bonus, including other circumstance bonuses.

And Dodge bonuses explicitly stack with other dodge bonuses. And no there isn't any need for errata on this. If you were an Andori Defender for 5 levels to qualify for Aldori Swordlord, it just means you get the full +2 dodge bonus instead of waiting for it. It isn't like you get any more dodge bonus than a 7th level Swordlord would since the ability caps at +2. This is just a bonus the designers threw in to encourage players to follow that path.

[Gruby]

So Aldory Dueling Mastery gives +2 shield bonus as long as you wield Aldori Dueling Sword in one hand without shield, off-hand weapon, etc... but if I also make full attack i get Defensive Parry bonus as well?

Is that correct?

[Mysterious Stranger]

It does not look like the defensive parry and the feat were meant to work together. The class ability levels up and counts the prestige class when doing so. Since the minimum to become a Aldori Sword lord is 6th level that means that the class ability gets the +2 shield bonus when you become a 2nd level swordlord. The feat is more for someone who has learned some of the fighting style but is not a dedicated practitioner of the style.

[Thunderlord]

The best swordlords are swashbucklers anyways. My backup character in Kingmaker was a Learned Duelist 5 / Bravo 1 / Swordlord 1.

[fearcypher]

Meirril wrote:

You can make a strong argument that the shield bonus from the Aldori Defender is a circumstance bonus. You only get that bonus when you make a full attack action. That is a bonus from a circumstance and they normally stack with any bonus, including other circumstance bonuses.

There is no argument to be made for that being a circumstance bonus

It is explicitly called out as being a shield bonus, just because it only applies from a specific action does not make it a circumstance bonus by any definition. It is very cut and dry that it is a Shield bonus.