Titan Mauler/Beast Totem?

[Uhtred]

So a player that was brand new to the Pathfinder system is now a veteran of 1.5 years, and while his single-classed vanilla Barbarian was a great starter character which has seen him through ten levels, he's done some research and feels that he's ready, as a player, to try an archetype and has settled on the Titan Mauler. He wants to go Sword & Board and wield his ancestral Greatsword in one hand, and boost his struggling AC with a heavy shield, and figures that the perfect compliment to it is the Beast Totem line of rage powers which would grant him Pounce on a charge.
I have two questions before I encourage him to pursue the build.
1) Is the build a viable one? I've heard mixed reviews about both the archetype and totem rage powers in general.
2) Would Greater Beast Totem allow him to use his sword on a Pounce, or just the claws granted by the other totem feats?
Thanks in advance.

[Florian]

So a player that was brand new to the Pathfinder system is now a veteran of 1.5 years, and while his single-classed vanilla Barbarian was a great starter character which has seen him through ten levels, he's done some research and feels that he's ready, as a player, to try an archetype and has settled on the Titan Mauler. He wants to go Sword & Board and wield his ancestral Greatsword in one hand, and boost his struggling AC with a heavy shield, and figures that the perfect compliment to it is the Beast Totem line of rage powers which would grant him Pounce on a charge.
I have two questions before I encourage him to pursue the build.
1) Is the build a viable one? I've heard mixed reviews about both the archetype and totem rage powers in general.
2) Would Greater Beast Totem allow him to use his sword on a Pounce, or just the claws granted by the other totem feats?
Thanks in advance.

Oh, man.....

Ok, first of, the Beast Totem chain is a damn good way to upgrade DPR on a Barbarian. No matter what, you can always Full Attack.

Titan Mauler is..... ok, think some heavy expletive language here. AC isn´t the barbarians forte at all and beyond 10th level, you´l not have any real competitive scores there. The shield won´t help and DPR drops too low .... Anything that gives a percentile miss chance will serve him better than trying to upgrade on AC.

[Uhtred]

So he WOULD get to pounce with a weapon other than the claws granted by Beast Totem? He's very fond of that sword.

[Red Fel]

So he WOULD get to pounce with a weapon other than the claws granted by Beast Totem? He's very fond of that sword.

Well, here's what Greater Beast Totem (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo---rage-powers/beast-totem-greater-su) says: "While raging, the barbarian gains the pounce special ability, allowing her to make a full attack at the end of a charge. In addition, the damage from her claws increases to 1d8 (1d6 if Small) and the claws deal x 3 damage on a critical hit."

It doesn't say anything about only being allowed to use Pounce with her Claw weapons. Contrast that with the Catfolk racial feat Claw Pounce (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/racial-feats/claw-pounce-combat-catfolk), which explicitly states that "[w]hen you make a charge, you can make a full attack with your claws." (Emphasis added.) So, yes, he can Pounce with anything.

[Florian]

So he WOULD get to pounce with a weapon other than the claws granted by Beast Totem? He's very fond of that sword.

While the Beast Totem line gives some claws, the Barbarian is in no way forced to only work with these to pounce. Thinking about it, I don´t know anyone who ever uses those claws....

[Uhtred]

Well that's good to know! Since he enlarges when he rages, thanks to Titanic Rage, he'll have Large-size claws that would work well in a pinch, and can pounce with them, at that! I guess the fact that the claws got mentioned in the feat so close on the heels of Pounce just tripped me up; I was reminded of the Claws of the Leopard which also granted Pounce, but, again, only with the Claws.