Okay, another update:
Several of us were able to get a few more details out of the DM, as well as chat a little with one another about our planned characters... and boy, do I have some decisions to make.
So, the campaign setting: humanity was in a war with the demi-human races in the past (at least two hundred years before "present day" when the campaign begins), and they lost... BADLY. At this point, by population, elves are the most numerous, followed by dwarves, orc, gnomes, halflings, the half-races (half-eves, half-orcs), tieflings and then humans at the bottom of the list -- they are considered pretty rare (the survivors are either enslaved by the other demi-human races or living in hidden enclaves), and there are definite racist undertones (though, with my party, it's generally petty insults at best -- I know this from my female drow Celestial warlock bearing the brunt of it, but I gave as good as I got and it's all in good fun at the table, so no harm, no foul). Dragonborn are pretty non-existent -- as are dragons, apparently: at least, no one has seen a dragon in a LONG, long time.
There are seven large islands (very large, maybe as much as subcontinent in size) that will be feared, and each one will be ruled by a warlord. Into the Badlands was specifically mentioned as an inspiration for this; with the swashbuckling and the apparent plan to be going back and forth between the various islands, I'm adding a bit of Pirates of the Caribbean into the mix. So I'm seeing swashbuckling, a bit of piracy, and looks to be a fair bit of political intrigue in the mix as well.
This all sounds great, and we're all looking forward to it, but... our party is gonna have the deck stacked against it, despite having six in the party. Right now, three are apparently planning to be variant humans (a barbarian who might go monk instead, hasn't decided for certain yet; a ranger who's going Monster Hunter; and the rogue who's going Swashbuckler). Of the remaining members: one is a complete unknown aside from being a druid (no idea on race or on the druid circle he's aiming for), and the remaining two of us (myself included) are moon elves -- one a paladin going either Oath of the Ancients or Oath of Vengeance, and my "wizard".
The rogue going Swashbuckler seems interested in trying to be the main social "face" of the party, but the only way he'll be able to do that is to use a disguise kit on a daily basis to pretend to be an elf. I figure it won't be too long before the paladin or my character would discover the truth, and if he has a bad roll, the party will have quite the uphill climb when making any sort of negotiations. I'm pretty sure the paladin will cover Persuasion, but I'm beginning to seriously consider whether to try and be a backup social "face" as well, especially seeing as how we're six strong, and three of them are going to have the decks stacked against them from the start.
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With all that above, I'm honestly feeling confused about what I should consider doing. The more I look at this, the more I think multiclassing is going to have to be the main option, but I have no idea which way to go. I've waffled between a two-level bard dip, to a single-level cleric or rogue dip. And at this point, I'm actually open to alternatives: I've idly considered maybe doing something a bit twisted (for instance, hexblade warlock dip for a sorcerer going with Shadow Magic) -- I do want to keep it arcane spellcasting, but I need advice on whether to try and build towards being a social "face", or whether to keep with the current build I'm favoring (Wizard 1 / Cleric (Knowledge) 1) to be a more stealth-oriented, acrobatic bladesinger-to-be.
Any advice or thoughts are very welcome.