The Armored Kilt can be added worn alone or added to a piece of armor.
I always worked under the assumption that if you added the kilt the AC bonus was increased by 1 and the weight of the armor went up by 1 tier.
After a few questions asked recently(I have linked them below) have came up about the kilt though I realized I have never actually found any rules supporting this assumption.
Is it stated anywhere that the armored kilt adds it's AC bonus to the armor being worn with it? Or is the reverse stated explicitly anywhere?
If the armor is not added to AC what is the benefit of having the heavier armor?
Related questions:
What effect does combining… and
How does the armored kilt work
Best Answer
Yes, it does add AC, but...
Not to anyone wearing heavy armor already.
The Armored Kilt in the Adventurer's Armory only says this:
This suggests that the Armored Kilt is nearly useless, but this description is only to "update" the Armored Kilt from Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, suggesting that anything not mentioned is not changed.
The PCCS has a very different description:
The classes that would find the biggest advantage in this are full Arcane Spellcasters. The Armored Kilt is the only piece of armor in the game that does not come with an arcane spell failure chance. This means that wearing it does not have a chance of causing any spell with Somatic components to fail.
Since having no armor does not come with any DEX penalty, wearing no armor and an Armored Kilt actually allows you to use your full DEX bonus, regardless of what your DEX bonus is.
Do note that it cannot be enchanted or masterwork-ed separately from your regular armor.