I'm trying to understand how the new Swashbuckler 15th level ability dizzying defense works, rules-as-written. (I suspect I may not play it RAW, but I at least want to understand the RAW before making a decision.)
Dizzying defense reads:
At 15th level, while wielding a light or one-handed piercing melee weapon in one hand, the swashbuckler can spend 1 panache point to take the fighting defensively action as a swift action instead of a standard action. When fighting defensively in this manner, the dodge bonus to AC gained from that action increases to +4, and the penalty to attack rolls is reduced to –2.
and
Fighting defensively as a standard action reads:
You can choose to fight defensively when attacking. If you do so, you take a –4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a +2 to AC until the start of your next turn.
Based on this, here's my understanding of how these work (RAW):
Fighting defensively by itself
- As a standard action, one can attack once, at -4 to hit and +2 to AC
- Since this is a standard action, one can't use this as part of a Full Attack action (so you only get one swing)
Dizzying defense + fighting defensively
- As a swift action (plus 1 panache), one can attack once, at -2 to hit and +4 to AC
- Since this is a swift action, one still gets to use a Standard or Full Attack action.
Some examples:
- A 15th level swashbuckler making a full attack (not fighting defensively or using dizzying defense) gets 3 attacks
- A 15th level swashbuckler fighting defensively as a standard action gets 1 attack
- A 15th level swashbuckler fighting defensively as a swift action via dizzying defense can also make a full attack, getting a total of 4 attacks (all at -2 to hit, +4 to AC)
Am I reading this correctly?