Hi,
The shield of blades is meant to confer a shield bonus of the same value as the penalty to hit.
Is this bonus added to your AC if you are also using a shield?
Thanks!
"Usually, a bonus has a type that indicates how the spell grants the bonus. The important aspect of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type don’t generally stack. With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the better bonus of a given type works" CRB pg. 208
Nope.
There are precious few AC bonus types able to stack with themselves, Shield is most certainly not one of them.
It is not a spell. It is a vigilante talent.
So the quote is not relevant in this case.
Is there some other place that this is mentioned that could be relevant to the question?
Page 149...
Armor/Shield Bonus: Each type of armor grants an
armor bonus to AC, while shields grant a shield bonus to
AC. The armor bonus from a suit of armor doesn’t stack
with other effects or items that grant an armor bonus.
Similarly, the shield bonus from a shield doesn’t stack
with other effects that grant a shield bonus.
The talent gives a Shield bonus to AC. Shields also give a Shield bonus to AC. These don't stack together.
It is not a spell. It is a vigilante talent.
So the quote is not relevant in this case.
Yes it is. Ignore the first sentence if you like. Those rules apply to all kind of effects.
"Bonus: Bonuses are numerical values that are added to checks and statistical scores. Most bonuses have a type, and as a general rule, bonuses of the same type are not cumulative (do not “stack”)—only the greater bonus granted applies." CRB pg. 12
That's from the "common terms", that section is just not really written to be the definite rule source*, which is why I quoted the proper rules. For some reason Paizo forwent the glossary when they copied most of the 3.5 rulebooks to make the CRB, but without even the slightest doubt are the rules written based around the "same type = doesn't stack" concept (with the quoted exceptions).
*) As you can see, it doesn't list the exceptions, but they definitely apply to all effects - the combat rules for calculation AC say: "Unlike most sorts of bonuses, dodge bonuses stack with each other." CRB pg. 179
For a similar case, the polymorph rules (pg. 211) also talk about spells... right until when they say "(or you activate a polymorph effect, such as wild shape)", even though when read the rules literally, non-spell polymorph effects like Wild Shape aren't governed by them.
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It is not a spell. It is a vigilante talent.
So the quote is not relevant in this case.
A better explaination for why they always use "spell" to refer to spell and non-spell effects is word count. In general, most effects that produce stacking questions are spells. So they use "spell". They have explained this as word count in the past.