Relatively minor, but I was thinking it would make more sense if the barbarian speed bonus was reduced a bit if medium or heavier armor was worn? Just a thought since the speed bonus combined with others available is pretty huge.
It is disabled in heavy armor already. Might be good if there was a hard cap on speed bonuses so that you can't stack them from perks and class feats over a certain amount.
why?
So no one runs at haste speeed
Good thing no one is then. :)
Barbarians get +10% at 1st and 8th.
Druid/Rangers get +10% at 3rd, and +5% at 6th and 9th.
Monks get +10% at 3rd, 6th, and 9th.
Pathfinder gives +10% more.
You can go pure speed as a Barbarian 1 Ranger/Druid 9 with pathfinder to reach (+45%).
The pure monk can get up to (+40%) at level 9 with pathfinder.
Rangers and druids can get up to (+35%) at level 9.
Barbarian with pathfinder can get up to (+30%) at level 8.
These characters are fast, that is very true. It might be nice to be able to toggle on and off the speed so you actually can walk like a normal person now and then. But on to the topic.
All of these speed boosts are conditional, they either turn off when in civilized areas (pathfinder or druid/ranger), turn off when you put on any armor (monk (the fastest pure)), turn off when you put on medium armor (ranger (second fastest)), or turn off when you put on heavy armor (barbarian (slowest of the fast)).
Basically, lots of things slow characters down including what the OP was requesting. I personally don't see anything wrong with this.
It should also be worth pointing out that yes, Barbarians do get the speed a little early, but they are also the only wilderness class that does not have the ability to get a workable stealth score. They need that speed and hp to outrun the saber tigers and other nasty things out there considering they cannot wear heavy armor.
Barb speed bonus is pretty minor compared to others, I think. If you made some weird Barb/Ranger/Druid you could probably move damn fast in the wilds, especially if some speed perk is available I am not aware of. I'm not certain how viable the character would be but the high BAB/HP would probably make it doable.