I was wondering if a Barbarian Druid is a feasible build. I am aiming for a the Viking - berserker/wild-shaper. Is there anything Ability/skill/feat/trait that I should take or avoid.
Should I take the companion or the domain?
Well, if you're just after the wildshape, there is the Bear Warrior in one of the splat-books, I think Complete Warrior, or there is the Berserker-variant in the Gods and Demi-gods which allows you to increase your rage while allowing yet moar bear-shenanigans, although in a pinch you could swap that out for Boar/Dire Boar/Tougher Dire Boar or Wolf/Dire Wolf/Winter Wolf.
If you're after spellcasting, things get tricky. You cannot cast spells while Raging, so either you will conserve spells for pre-battle buffing or after-combat-healing (In which case I would go for the Sorcerer, rather than the Druid, and put a few feats into Silent Spell meta-magic and possibly a variant of the Natural Spell feat (I believe there was something similar in a 3.5 splatbook, the Monsters-as-PCs manual) and load up on Transmutation spells for your transformations and buffing spells such as Heroism for your companions, Obscuring Mist (nothing like a frothing, raging berserker charging out of the mist that appeared suddenly. talk about surprise rounds. "I CHANGE MY UNDERWEAR!" crops up often when I pull that on the players.) and True Strike, naturally.
Unfortunately, either way you're looking at some pain, as you'll rarely come up roses if you try to stack one class over the other or try to keep them balanced.
Perhaps, if the DM is willing, a class similar to the Mystic Theurge, in which 4 levels of Druid and 4 levels of Barbarian will allow you to take the PrC which will allow you to continue Shapechange and Rage as per a Druid and/or Barbarian of your character's PrC Levels, meaning at 14th level you can Rage like a 14th Level Barbarian and Shapechange like a 14th level Druid, with 1/2 casting progression and only a few nods to the Barbarian in terms of rage powers gained along the way. This means you keep some of the core abilities of both classes but have missed out on some of the others in exchange for being able to rage while assuming the form of a Girallon under the effects of Barkskin and Greater Magic Fang spells.
Booyah.
I was wondering if a Barbarian Druid is a feasible build. I am aiming for a the Viking - berserker/wild-shaper. Is there anything Ability/skill/feat/trait that I should take or avoid.
Should I take the companion or the domain?
In the unearthed arcana there was a druid varient that swiched out your animal companion for the level 1 barbarian rage feature.
I was wondering if a Barbarian Druid is a feasible build. I am aiming for a the Viking - berserker/wild-shaper. Is there anything Ability/skill/feat/trait that I should take or avoid.
Should I take the companion or the domain?
In the unearthed arcana there was a druid varient that swiched out your animal companion for the level 1 barbarian rage feature.
It's very feasible. Take 2 levels of barbarian and extra rage. When you can finally change into a large animal, nothing beats a raging dire tiger. Takes a while to payoff but it's fun when it does
Unfortunately, either way you're looking at some pain, as you'll rarely come up roses if you try to stack one class over the other or try to keep them balanced.
I play a Barbarian/Druid in a 3.5 pbp campaign. Flavor-wise, it's lots of fun. He's a Dwarf, so I get to try to balance his chaotic nature and nature devotion with his loyalty to Dwarven culture, and balancing is what a Druid's all about. Plus, he's a redneck with a coonhound that follows him everywhere.
Mechanically, it's much more difficult. At low levels, spells like Shillelagh and Entangle are pretty useful if you take the time to set up before you rage. Plus, more cure spells and some utility spells are nice to have.
After a while, though, you have the same spell-progression issues that a fighter/mage has. There really isn't an Arcane Warrior-type PrC that fits warrior-druids, so you really have to just concentrate on one class over the other until you can break into Bear Warrior or something that focuses more on your Druid abilities or divine spells.
There was also a Ranger Variant in UA that swapped Combat style for Wild shape Small or Medium. if you are just planning a small dip, then this would be better because it preserves your BAB, keeps your HD high, and you dont have to worry about spells.
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From 3.5 rules (Unearthed Arcana referenced above by prior posts), very little effort to convert to Pathfinder some ideas that parallel what you're doing:
Class Features
The druidic avenger has all the standard druid class features, except as noted below.
Animal Companion
An avenger does not gain the service of an animal companion.
Fast Movement (Ex)
A druidic avenger's base land speed is faster than the norm for her race by 10 feet. This ability is identical to the barbarian ability of the same name.
Rage (Ex)
An avenger can enter a furious rage, identical to that of a barbarian. An avenger can use this ability once per day at 1st level, and one additional time per day for every five levels above 1st.
An avenger does not gain the greater rage, indomitable will, or mighty rage abilities.
Spontaneous Casting
An avenger cannot channel stored spell energy into summoning spells.
Tireless Rage (Ex)
At 17th level and higher, an avenger no longer becomes fatigued at the end of her rage.
Wild Empathy
A druidic avenger takes a -4 penalty on wild empathy checks.
OR, if you want to take a different tact from same source:
Ranger
A ranger might forgo training in weapon combat in exchange for the ability to take animal form and move swiftly through the woodlands.
Gain
Wild shape (as druid; Small or Medium animals only), fast movement (as barbarian).
Lose
Combat style, improved combat style, combat style mastery.
lucky7 used necropost.
IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE!!!