I wouldn't go grapple
I don't see what's wrong with Grapple other than some vague rules. The tiger will be a natural grappler anyhow. If I were going to have Improved Unarmed Strike anyhow I'd probably think about Enforcer though.
If you do go Grapple you might want to consider the Raging Grappler rage power. It allows you to do damage when you initiate the grapple and also allows you to make the enemy prone when you maintain the grapple. Withe Greater Grapple that would let you knock an enemy down for the tiger to finish off and then use your standard action to catch a new victim.
My current grappler took Body Shield instead of Rapid Grappler, and though the damage of making one enemy hit the other is often less than what I could have inflicted with another grapple the bonus to AC is nice and the effect is hilarious.
|
What do you actually want to do?
Grappling is fun, but also situational. It's difficult or risky to grapple some foes, and you can also leave yourself open to the grappled opponent's friends. It also takes a lot of investment to do well.
Personally, if I were a barbarian with a tiger, I'd want the mounted rage powers and maybe a few mounted combat feats - assuming that I wasn't worried about having to dismount too frequently.
Worth noting though that Greater Ferocious Mount doesn't synergize too well with some of your other choices. Your tiger won't actually benefit from sharing your Beast Totem powers since they already have claws, natural armour, and pounce. The mount also can't use activated powers (like Spell Sunder or Strength Surge) but such powers are also usually the main reason to rage cycle.
Also, I've noticed your second option has CAGM but not Combat Reflexes. I'd recommend taking both or neither, since you really need a lot of AoO to take advantage of CAGM.
|
|
If you're interested in more combat maneuvers generally, you'd probably be better off with Bull Rush, Drag or Overrun. All of these use Power Attack so you don't need an extra pre-req, and all provide a useful tactical option even with just the basic Improved Maneuver feat.
Alternatively, notice that there's little downside to performing maneuvers untrained when your opponent can't make the AoO against you. You could make basic, safe use of a variety of maneuvers simply by extending your reach (using a reach weapon, getting yourself enlarged, using the Lunge feat, etc).
Tark's guide on maneuvers may be useful.
Since you don't have any decisions to make until level 5 I would recommend keeping an eye on how you play the character - whether you spend a lot of time mounted, charging, whether you see opportunities to use specific maneuvers - and using that to inform your decision.