Incarnum Barbarian Subclass

[Amnoriath]

1.) thats because that is just a trigger for an extra attack since claws start off weaker than something a barbarian would normally use.
2.) I agree with that sentiment and would love if you could bring in more people to discuss this. Especially someone who has tried the current barbarian and incarnum character classes from 3.5

1. Well does 5e have anything similar to INA? I also feel like this feature could better be a soulmeld that goes toward survival
2. I believe this path of a barbarian almost could be like a sage or shaman type character who has more innate knowledge and mental fortitude rather than getting better rage. As such at level 3 he ought to be able to choose to be proficient in either Arcana, Nature, or Religion checks then either at level 6 or 10 he can be proficient in wisdom saves. I would also sprinkle in with Detect magic and Speak with Dead as rituals later on.
In addition seeing that bonuses are more rare I would suggest the essentia start out with one, maybe rage can expand it by one since it restricts somethings anyway. Finally in order to stop the of a long advancement chart for each meld or way too powerful to begin with in order to compete with more expensive items you could make a mechanic in which purposely unshapes a meld along with maybe 2 or 3 points of essentia burn to create a larger instantaneous or 1 round effect based on each meld. This at the very least come at level 10 if not 14.
3. Well I have played Incarnum before and is one of my favorites to use. Person Man, Grod the Giant, and Xefas I believe are the best people in sizing up and making homebrew melee characters. I honestly don't know people who play 5e so you may want to start a thread there and ask people to come over.