A lot is going to depend on the game, and what you and the DM have in mind for it. The most obvious Barbarian sub-class would be the Path Of The Beast.
If the game is going to be about Savage Combat, then you start with Barbarian, and you might as well stick with it all the way to 10th and beyond. Very little of what a Druid can do will add to your ability to fight. You can't cast spells, or keep them going, while raging. The ability to heal is of no use to yourself unless nobody else in the entire party has any heals, which is unlikely.
If you are looking for more over-all utility, and the ability to fill roles that include combat, then what use will levels in Barbarian be?
The two classes work reasonably well together. If you want to be fairly meh at everything, there you go. You will need at least a 13 in every score except Intelligence and Charisma. That's easy enough.
You need at least 2 levels in Druid to get Wild Shape. You're not a shapeshifter at all until then. You don't start being a shapeshifter until 3rd level as a Barbarian. Since you know you want to be a Circle of the Moon Druid, start with that, take it to 3rd level at least, then grab Barbarian levels. You'll need 3 of them. Now you are at least 6th level and you only have four to go. You need 5 levels in Barbarian to get the second attack when you use the Attack action. So two more levels of Barbarian at least. The only thing you really get from more Druid levels is spells, and that's not Savage. Start with 3 levels of Druid, switch to Barbarian, and stick with it as far as the game takes you.
Dragonborn will give you a bunch of toys to play with if you need a race other than Human. If you can get the races Volo, Xanathar, and Tasha hand out, you can do some remarkable things. An Aarakocra gets to fly. You will be a long, long time in getting to fly with a Druid/Barbarian otherwise. Druids don't get to fly until 8th level. The Bugbear's long limbs are great fun. Tabaxi are all sorts of pounce-y fun. Yuan-Ti Purebloods and Satyrs are magic resistant. A Minotaur would make a wonderful Savage Druid/Barbarian.
Talk to your DM. Figure out what you will need between the two of you in order for everyone at the table to have fun.
Path of the Beast could be useful for alternatives toyour Wild Shaped attacks, but won't have a ton of synergy to enhance those attacks beyond what any other Barbarian subclass would do. POB Attacks are not Unarmed Strikes, nor are they the Bite or Claw that you see in a Beast's statblock, so don't expect to stack a Tiger's 1d10 Bite with the POB Bite's self-heal, or get up to too many Pounce shennanigans, etc... However, POB's 10th-level Infectous Fury should apply to any and all Natural Weapons, even those that came from being Wildshaped instead of from POB.... but that's outside the scope of your CL 10 plan. Because of this, really any of the other Barbarian subclasses are as-good or better for a Wildshaped Druid than Beast is, unless you really care about the Tail reaction while in Beast form.
Moon Druids punch above their weight right from level 2, but whether you want to start as a Barbarian or as a Druid at level 1 largely comes down to whether you want Strength and Con saving throw proficiencies, or Wisdom and Intelligence saving throw proficiencies, going forward. Some Wildshapes might hand you a save proficiency now and again (like Spider King), but most Beasts don't, so evaluate whether you're more concerned about being Charmed or Frightened (Wisdom), or Poisoned, Stunned, or dropping Concentration (Constitution)... I'd say that the Wisdom save is probably more important when Wildshaped, and getting Moon Druid 2 right at Character level 2 is great, so I'd start as a Druid.
CL 1-2: Moon Druid 2, CL 3: Barb 1 (unlocks great Beast AC and HP pool), CL 4-7: Moon Druid 6 (unlocks magical attacks, more CR 2 and swimming forms), CL 8-9: Bear Totem (better damage resistance) or Zealot (better damage) Barb 3, CL 10: choose between Druid 7 (4th level spells) or Barb 4 (a feat).
OR
CL 1-2: Moon Druid 2, CL 3-10: Barb 8. If doing this, then Path of the Beast IS a viable choice, because you're not so much interested in enhancing your Wild Shape, as you are in having multiple ways to be a furry berserker.
Bear in mind most of the utility of a Barbarian for a Moon Druid is from the AC and Reckless Attack (not that Danger Sense is awful) - with only a few Barb levels, you won't be raging very often. That said, a 1-level dip into Barbarian is often a waste of your time - you would have been much better off with a 1-level dip into Monk, in terms of actual beastmode AC (Barbarian AC is never better than just casting Barkskin before you shape, and once you reach high Wis it's always worse than Monk AC; plus, not for nothing, if you do Rage, barkskin drops). As soon as you reach a 2-dip, Barbarian becomes much more compelling, because L2 Monk gives you 1 Ki point and ways to spend it, which is not much at all compared to Barb Reckless (and Danger Sense).
Starting as a Barbarian will make you proficient in Con saves, excellent for any caster, but especially Moon Druids - without another solution, Moon Druids should all be very interested in Resilient Con, but Barbarians give you proficiency.
All of this has to be compared to a 2-level dip into Wizard, as well, because of Bladesingers, who will not interrupt your spell slot progression and will give you Arcane Recovery and a pseudo rage mode with pb scaling so you don't need to worry about it only being a dip. You also will get to use the stat you used to multiclass, unlike with Barbarian and often unlike with Monk (you'll never use Str 13 in practice, but Dex 13 does give you better AC if you spend any time in Humanoid mode).
Another serious factor to consider is your starting level. As it is, Moon Druids have wildly different stat needs at level 1 from the rest of their career - if you can survive until level 2, you can generally dump stat all three physical stats, but level 1 is gonna suck if you dumped Dex and Con. If you start Druid and switch to Barbarian, not only are your save proficiencies worse, but also you have to deal with your religious refusal to wear metal armor while a Barbarian (this generally doesn't matter in beast form, but will matter if you spend any time in humanoid form). If you start as a Barbarian, you can spend your Barbarian levels at least wearing the good armor.
If you're starting at level 1 and absolutely stuck on Barbarian, not Wizard, I'd say do this:
Statline: Wis 15->17 Con 15->16 Str 13 Dex 12, start with Barb 1 (Con save proficiency). You'll need to basically suffer for two levels with very suboptimal stats: level 2 is Druid 1, level 3 is Druid 2 (Moon Druid). Now you can be a Brown Bear or Giant Spider or Dire Wolf or whatever you need, and you can keep climbing Druid until your melee feels like it's falling off, then dip into Barb 2 so Reckless can fix everything, and then back to Druid again. I doubt I'd ever bother with Barb 3; Barb subclasses all upgrade your rages, so you'd go from 2 to 3 rages per day and your rages are better, but your rages won't continue to scale or anything.
Quindraco's advice would make an OK Druid/Monk, but I really don't think you need 17+ wisdom as a wild shaper, if you aren't using Wis for AC or attacks. A Barbarian is going to want to use Str for attacks no matter what form they're in, not rely on Shillelagh, so that really sounds more like Druid/Monk or Druid/Wizard advice to me.
There's lots of configurations you can shoot for, at the end of the day the only real rule of thumb is: rush moon druid to either 2 or 6, if Wild Shape is your main focus. A lot will fall into place after that.
Hi, I'm playing with a druid/barb setup for next campaign, but can't quite decide how to go about it.
Druid Definitely Circle of the Moon, but not sure how much barb i should take or what kind. also should i start with barb or druid?
campaign will probably run to about 10 or so
A lot is going to depend on the game, and what you and the DM have in mind for it. The most obvious Barbarian sub-class would be the Path Of The Beast.
If the game is going to be about Savage Combat, then you start with Barbarian, and you might as well stick with it all the way to 10th and beyond. Very little of what a Druid can do will add to your ability to fight. You can't cast spells, or keep them going, while raging. The ability to heal is of no use to yourself unless nobody else in the entire party has any heals, which is unlikely.
If you are looking for more over-all utility, and the ability to fill roles that include combat, then what use will levels in Barbarian be?
The two classes work reasonably well together. If you want to be fairly meh at everything, there you go. You will need at least a 13 in every score except Intelligence and Charisma. That's easy enough.
You need at least 2 levels in Druid to get Wild Shape. You're not a shapeshifter at all until then. You don't start being a shapeshifter until 3rd level as a Barbarian. Since you know you want to be a Circle of the Moon Druid, start with that, take it to 3rd level at least, then grab Barbarian levels. You'll need 3 of them. Now you are at least 6th level and you only have four to go. You need 5 levels in Barbarian to get the second attack when you use the Attack action. So two more levels of Barbarian at least. The only thing you really get from more Druid levels is spells, and that's not Savage. Start with 3 levels of Druid, switch to Barbarian, and stick with it as far as the game takes you.
Dragonborn will give you a bunch of toys to play with if you need a race other than Human. If you can get the races Volo, Xanathar, and Tasha hand out, you can do some remarkable things. An Aarakocra gets to fly. You will be a long, long time in getting to fly with a Druid/Barbarian otherwise. Druids don't get to fly until 8th level. The Bugbear's long limbs are great fun. Tabaxi are all sorts of pounce-y fun. Yuan-Ti Purebloods and Satyrs are magic resistant. A Minotaur would make a wonderful Savage Druid/Barbarian.
Talk to your DM. Figure out what you will need between the two of you in order for everyone at the table to have fun.
<Insert clever signature here>
Thanks, I needed an outside perspective to figure out what my problem with making the character was!
Path of the Beast could be useful for alternatives to your Wild Shaped attacks, but won't have a ton of synergy to enhance those attacks beyond what any other Barbarian subclass would do. POB Attacks are not Unarmed Strikes, nor are they the Bite or Claw that you see in a Beast's statblock, so don't expect to stack a Tiger's 1d10 Bite with the POB Bite's self-heal, or get up to too many Pounce shennanigans, etc... However, POB's 10th-level Infectous Fury should apply to any and all Natural Weapons, even those that came from being Wildshaped instead of from POB.... but that's outside the scope of your CL 10 plan. Because of this, really any of the other Barbarian subclasses are as-good or better for a Wildshaped Druid than Beast is, unless you really care about the Tail reaction while in Beast form.
Moon Druids punch above their weight right from level 2, but whether you want to start as a Barbarian or as a Druid at level 1 largely comes down to whether you want Strength and Con saving throw proficiencies, or Wisdom and Intelligence saving throw proficiencies, going forward. Some Wildshapes might hand you a save proficiency now and again (like Spider King), but most Beasts don't, so evaluate whether you're more concerned about being Charmed or Frightened (Wisdom), or Poisoned, Stunned, or dropping Concentration (Constitution)... I'd say that the Wisdom save is probably more important when Wildshaped, and getting Moon Druid 2 right at Character level 2 is great, so I'd start as a Druid.
CL 1-2: Moon Druid 2, CL 3: Barb 1 (unlocks great Beast AC and HP pool), CL 4-7: Moon Druid 6 (unlocks magical attacks, more CR 2 and swimming forms), CL 8-9: Bear Totem (better damage resistance) or Zealot (better damage) Barb 3, CL 10: choose between Druid 7 (4th level spells) or Barb 4 (a feat).
OR
CL 1-2: Moon Druid 2, CL 3-10: Barb 8. If doing this, then Path of the Beast IS a viable choice, because you're not so much interested in enhancing your Wild Shape, as you are in having multiple ways to be a furry berserker.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Bear in mind most of the utility of a Barbarian for a Moon Druid is from the AC and Reckless Attack (not that Danger Sense is awful) - with only a few Barb levels, you won't be raging very often. That said, a 1-level dip into Barbarian is often a waste of your time - you would have been much better off with a 1-level dip into Monk, in terms of actual beastmode AC (Barbarian AC is never better than just casting Barkskin before you shape, and once you reach high Wis it's always worse than Monk AC; plus, not for nothing, if you do Rage, barkskin drops). As soon as you reach a 2-dip, Barbarian becomes much more compelling, because L2 Monk gives you 1 Ki point and ways to spend it, which is not much at all compared to Barb Reckless (and Danger Sense).
Starting as a Barbarian will make you proficient in Con saves, excellent for any caster, but especially Moon Druids - without another solution, Moon Druids should all be very interested in Resilient Con, but Barbarians give you proficiency.
All of this has to be compared to a 2-level dip into Wizard, as well, because of Bladesingers, who will not interrupt your spell slot progression and will give you Arcane Recovery and a pseudo rage mode with pb scaling so you don't need to worry about it only being a dip. You also will get to use the stat you used to multiclass, unlike with Barbarian and often unlike with Monk (you'll never use Str 13 in practice, but Dex 13 does give you better AC if you spend any time in Humanoid mode).
Another serious factor to consider is your starting level. As it is, Moon Druids have wildly different stat needs at level 1 from the rest of their career - if you can survive until level 2, you can generally dump stat all three physical stats, but level 1 is gonna suck if you dumped Dex and Con. If you start Druid and switch to Barbarian, not only are your save proficiencies worse, but also you have to deal with your religious refusal to wear metal armor while a Barbarian (this generally doesn't matter in beast form, but will matter if you spend any time in humanoid form). If you start as a Barbarian, you can spend your Barbarian levels at least wearing the good armor.
If you're starting at level 1 and absolutely stuck on Barbarian, not Wizard, I'd say do this:
Statline: Wis 15->17 Con 15->16 Str 13 Dex 12, start with Barb 1 (Con save proficiency). You'll need to basically suffer for two levels with very suboptimal stats: level 2 is Druid 1, level 3 is Druid 2 (Moon Druid). Now you can be a Brown Bear or Giant Spider or Dire Wolf or whatever you need, and you can keep climbing Druid until your melee feels like it's falling off, then dip into Barb 2 so Reckless can fix everything, and then back to Druid again. I doubt I'd ever bother with Barb 3; Barb subclasses all upgrade your rages, so you'd go from 2 to 3 rages per day and your rages are better, but your rages won't continue to scale or anything.
Quindraco's advice would make an OK Druid/Monk, but I really don't think you need 17+ wisdom as a wild shaper, if you aren't using Wis for AC or attacks. A Barbarian is going to want to use Str for attacks no matter what form they're in, not rely on Shillelagh, so that really sounds more like Druid/Monk or Druid/Wizard advice to me.
There's lots of configurations you can shoot for, at the end of the day the only real rule of thumb is: rush moon druid to either 2 or 6, if Wild Shape is your main focus. A lot will fall into place after that.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.