Practical, Mechanically Interesting Low Level Builds?

[JellyPooga]

since I know how good the Bear Totem is but I do not enjoy the fact that it is just obviously the best choice to the extent that no matter what the rest of your build looks like, the rest will be unable to compete.

By no means is this the case. Bear Totem is great, no doubt, but it's not the clear outlier you seem to think it is. All Barbarians resist B/P/S damage in Rage, all Bear does is add the other types (bar Psychic). How often do you face non-B/P/S damage in your average session? How often are you likely to be standing next to a foe when your ally attacks it? If the latter number is higher than the first, that's how much more frequently Wolf Totem is seeing use compared to Bear.

Now add Evasion. Most non-B/P/S damage you see will be from AoE...which come Rogue 7, you can largely ignore. If it comes from a more direct attack; Uncanny Dodge. For the Barbarian/Rogue, Bear Totem isn't just a little dull (it's entirely passive), it's actually somewhat sub-optimal because of the large amount of overlap it presents with other features.