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The Blade Mastery feat says this:

You master the shortsword, longsword, scimitar, rapier, and greatsword. You gain the following benefits when using any of them:

  • You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls you make with the weapon.
  • On your turn, you can use your reaction to assume a parrying stance, provided you have the weapon in hand. Doing so grants you a +1 bonus to your AC until the start of your next turn or until you’re not holding the weapon.
  • When you make an opportunity attack with the weapon, you have advantage on the attack roll.

Its second feature says that using your reaction, you can get a +1 bonus to AC. This lasts until you're not holding your weapon. Does this mean that in multiple consecutive rounds you can use your reaction to get a +1 bonus as long as you're holding the weapon, which could (theoretically) allow you to have, for example, +6 to AC after a minute like this? Or can the bonus only apply once, RAW?

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    – Someone_Evil ♦
    Oct 16, 2019 at 17:15

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This is playtest material, so the wording isn't always as hammered-out as we hope final material is, but... I think you're reading the text wrong. It says:

Doing so grants you a +1 bonus to your AC until the start of your next turn or until you’re not holding the weapon.

... which you interpret as "the benefit lasts as long as one or the other is true". I can see that. There's another possible interpretation which I believe is the intention: "the benefit ends when one of these things happens". English has an ambiguity around the word "or", leading to both interpretations matching RAW — but personally I think it's pretty clear which is meant. And this is supported by the first part of the description: you're able to assume a parrying stance provided you have a weapon in hand.

One could read this as a requirement only to start such a stance (because it says "assume"), but I think it's pretty obvious that the intent is to require a weapon in hand the whole time.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes, I think in most rules, the "or" should be interpreted as if the sentence had the phrase "whichever occurs first" attached to the end of it. Unless, of course, it already has "whichever occurs last" (or similar) appended. \$\endgroup\$
    – cpcodes
    Oct 16, 2019 at 20:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ It depends on your training: if you’ve learned formal logic “or” is inclusive, if you’ve learned law “or” denotes an exclusive choice between alternatives. The second sense is the one being used. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dale M
    Oct 16, 2019 at 20:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ @DaleM And if you've learned plain English, it can be either and depends on context. Since ostensibly that's what the rules are written in, that's what we're stuck with. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Oct 16, 2019 at 20:53
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No, it cannot be stacked.

The second feature explicitly states:

On your turn, you can use your reaction to assume a parrying stance, provided you have the weapon in hand. Doing so grants you a +1 bonus to your AC until the start of your next turn or until you’re not holding the weapon.

This means as soon as your turn starts the bonus would no longer be in effect, so no, it cannot stack.

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No, the +1 AC only last one round.

until the start of your next turn or until you’re not holding the weapon.

When either one of those two conditions are true the AC bonus ends. The second part basically is there to answer "do I keep the AC bonus if I get disarmed?", which the answer is no, since the +1 AC bonus is dependent on you parrying with your sword.

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Doing so grants you a +1 bonus to your AC until the start of your next turn or until you’re not holding the weapon.

The +1 will be lost either at the beginning of your next turn or if you are disarmed. So no, this effect does not stack.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already and see the help center or ask us here in the comments (use @ to ping someone) if you need more guidance. Good Luck and Happy Gaming! \$\endgroup\$
    – Someone_Evil ♦
    Oct 16, 2019 at 17:19

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