Viking (Fighter) Pathfinder 1e

[Nosta]

I am working on a level 7 character for a future game
Going with either Dwarf or Half Orc And taking the Fighter Class with The Viking Archetype
I see my self building him in 1 of 2 ways either focusing on Heavy Axe & Sheild play, including Shield Bashing or focusing on Intimidate and going for stuff like Shatter Defenses

I am not sure if I can effectively pull either off but would like a sample feat list for both or what ever one would work better for this race and class

[Kurald Galain]

If shield bashing, try for Shield Slam; and this works best with a one-level dip in Magus so you can True Strike your shield slam.
If intimidating, try for Hurtful + Cornugon Smash. I'd say the former is more versatile, this one is more damaging.

If dwarf, go for Steel Soul; if half-orc, go for the Fate's Favored trait and the alternate racial luck bonus to saves. This is mostly whichever race you prefer.

[Nosta]

If shield bashing, try for Shield Slam; and this works best with a one-level dip in Magus so you can True Strike your shield slam.
If intimidating, try for Hurtful + Cornugon Smash. I'd say the former is more versatile, this one is more damaging.

If dwarf, go for Steel Soul; if half-orc, go for the Fate's Favored trait and the alternate racial luck bonus to saves. This is mostly whichever race you prefer.

Well for the intimidation path I came up with that cause of Viking Fearsome feature
So was not sure if I could incorporate that in

[Nosta]

So far I have these List I came up with

Intimidation
1: WF - Battle-axe / War-Axe
1: Shield focus
2: Dazzling display
3: intimating Prowess
4: Weapon spec
5: Hurtful
6 Shatter Defense
7 ??? Not sure

Or sword (Axe) and Board
1 WF Battle-axe / War-Axe
1 Shield focus
2 Improved Shield Bash
3 power Attack
4 Stumbling Bash
5 TWF
6 Shield Slam
7 Weapon Spec

[Maat Mons]

I’ve never looked at Viking before. Here’s my first impression.

Shield Defense gives you, ultimately, +4 AC. But you give up Armor Training, including Advanced Armor Training options. Armor Specialization is an Advanced Armor training option that would have given you, ultimately, +5 AC. That still would have left +3 max Dex bonus for all armor from regular Armor Training. And the loss of heavy armor proficiency loses you the net +1 AC that heavy armor winds up having over medium armor. That would put you 5 AC behind a normal Fighter. But you can take the Beast Totem Rage Power in place of one of your Fighter feats for, ultimately, +5 AC when Raging. That sort of ties things up.

What I’m getting at though, is that Viking isn’t really any better at defense than regular Fighter.

On the damage front, Rage is giving you +2 to attack rolls and +2 to damage. It could actually be +3 damage with a two-handed weapon, but Viking pushes you towards the sword-and-board style, so it probably won’t be. I don’t think Viking gives Greater Rage or Mighty Rage, so it’s always staying at +2 / +2. Regular Fighters would ultimately gain +4 to attack rolls and +4 to damage from Weapon Training.

So a Vikings is worse at offense than a regular Fighter.

I guess that means Intimidate and Rage Powers are the strengths of the archetype?

I’ve never built an intimidation-focused character. But I suppose the feats I would look at are Cornugon Smash, Disheartening Display, Violent Display, and their prerequisites. Nice to be able to inflict escalating fear incidentally while attacking.

[Rynjin]

Hurtful is a must-have Feat for Intimidate focused characters. It gives an extra attack as a Swift action whenever you Intimidate. In combination with Cornugon Smash this means you essentially can get an extra attack every round.