The Sword Coast Adventurers Guide (p. 122) describes a number of Uthgardt tribes for the Path of the Totem Warrior barbarian from the Player's Handbook. Saying:
The totems of the Uthgardt barbarians of the North … correspond to the spirits of the Path of the Totem Warrior as shown in the following table.
The Tree Ghost totem in the table has the spirit listed as:
Bear, with speak with plants in place of the normal rituals for the Spirit Seeker feature
Do I need to choose Bear for the 6th and 14th level Totem Warrior features, or just the Totem Spirit at 3rd Level, to gain access to speak with plants in place of the normal rituals for the Spirit Seeker feature?
Normally, the totem animal choice can vary between level features because it says (PHB p. 50):
You can choose the same animal you selected previously or a different one.
I just want to be a weird moss-whispering barbarian, chatting away to the plants all the time (but I also want Eagle eyesight at level 6).
Best Answer
Nothing in the new options presented in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide obliges to take the same spirit at 6th and 14th levels.
The options presented in Table "Uthgardt Totems" are available at 3rd level, and such table shows the equivalent of these options to the animals of the original PHB's subclass and to the new option Tiger.
The new options add new totem spirits: you have to follow the same subclass rules depicted in the PHB for the choices you are taking during leveling up. This means that you can choose a Tree Ghost totem at 3rd level, and subsequently the Eagle spirit at 6th level, since the PHB rules states, for the Aspect of the Beast feature, that