Something for an Orc wielding a battleaxe or dual wielding axes. Something that is decent though, unlike fur or hide.

What kind of armor would you call Daedric armor if not barbaric?

Falmer armour.

But wouldn't forsworn be more for a forsworn character?

If playing an Orc I either only use Orcish armor or no Armour at all.

Duergar armor is quite barbaric in look... Wolf Armor from the companions could also do the job.

With a high degree of fortify smithing and perks

actually Michael, i don't think Fur armor is upgrade-able at the work bench..

so I don't think you could reach the cap with it.

LOL! So true. Nothing incites an eye-roll from me like daedric armour on youtube.

Agree that forsworn is probably the best barbarian armour, it's an area sorely lacking in the game though IMO. Saviour's hide was a cool idea but it's slightly effeminate somehow. Can't put my finger on it, possibly the bare thighs.

I find my character wearing markarth guard armour a lot even though I originally intended for him to be a barbarian and I so greatly admire barbarian/caveman aesthetics. Again just none are quite right.

Nah. It's the large, open cleavage window that makes it look like a lady's garment.

Add my vote to either Forsworn or Hide/Fur armor. If you're going for barbarian armor then you should expect minimal defense (even though you can cap it with smithing).

Ahh ofcourse.

Does defense seriously come into people's decision making with armour? To me it's just appearance, 100%. I'll improve everything I have at the work bench, but that's just ocd or something, your character nvde with 100 health is more than armoured enough for the entire game. Obviously some people have ocd with armour rating or else no one would wear daedric, glad I don't have that, appearance is way too important.

For vanilla barbaric armor, I would have to say fur or forsworn. Can't say there is much else I'd consider all that "wild" looking.

It doesn't benefit from any perks though, so you'd need an insane amount of buffs to get it up there.

Darn. I would like to go with Fur over forsworn, but I also want good protection. But I don't want to exploit smithing glitches or resto loop methods or w/e they are called.

I would go with scaled, although I don't like how the helmet has that glitch

Wait how can you ask for somthing barbaric AND decent?

Just because it's barbaric, doesn't mean it has to be ugly or of low quality. Sometimes barbarism can look amazing...of course it does depend on who's wearing it.