D&D 5E Party Comparison

[Tony Vargas]

I am joining a new 5E party with an Arcane Trickster rouge, a dex based ranged ranger, a paladin, a wild magic sorcerer, and a bard. I am looking for advice on whether I should be ...

That's a fairly complete party: They're all casters, two of them full casters, two healers, a front-liner, at least 3 good-DPR types, at least two exploration-capable characters and up to three or more likely capable in interaction.
You've a free hand, in this case, it appears.

 

[Shiroiken]

You have a fairly well balanced party to begin with, so let's take a look.

Tank: 1-1.5 (Paladin, possible Bard)
DPR: 1.5-3 (Sorcerer, partial to full Paladin, partial to full Rogue)
Skills: 2.5-3 (Rogue, Bard, partial to full Ranger)
Utility: 1-1.5 (Bard, possible Sorcerer)

Melee: 1-3 (Paladin, possible Rogue, possible Bard)
Ranged: 1-3 (Ranger, possible Rogue, possible Bard)

Melee and Ranged looks balanced, based on what little we know. However, Bards are mediocre tanks at best, and Rogues seldom succeed as a tank. DPR has a lot of potential, based on the character builds. The skills should be solid at a minimum, probably excellent. Not much utility however, with pretty much only the Bard and maybe some help from the Sorcerer.

Given this, I think the Cleric is the better option from a completely neutral standpoint (if one inspires you more than the other, play that!). The barbarian will provide more DPR to a high DPR group, while mediocre AC will cause you to soak up a lot of the Bard's spells for healing (even after Rage). A Cleric will provide improved utility, and several domains provide Heavy Armor Proficiency. Both will fill the weaknesses of the group. In addition, extra healing is never a bad thing, and will open up the Paladin's spell slots for Smite.

 

[CTurbo]

I like both options a lot and you would do well with either. Any party with a Cleric AND Paladin is going to be really strong IMO and I love the Tempest Cleric. It's an extremely fun class to play. I disagree with those who say the Cleric can't be good in melee. Sure you only get 1 attack per round, but you'll deal reaction damage often with Wrath of the Storm which will outright kill an enemy at low levels. You can pick up Spirit Guardians at level 5 or 6 and be as good as anybody in melee. Your Destructive Wrath feature will shut down entire encounters on it's own once a day. This is a very strong class IMO. Go Str build with heavy armor. I have a 6th level Variant Human Tempest Cleric that took Heavy Armor Mastery at level 1 and he's been one of my favorite characters to play. I actually ditched the shield around level 3 and started using a +1 Great Sword because I didn't feel like I needed the extra AC.

The Barbarian is probably my other favorite class. They are VERY strong in 5e. I have a 7th level Goliath Bear Totem Barbarian and he's nearly unstoppable if not one dimensional. I actually dual wielding hand axes with him most of the time just to be different. Very powerful class yet very simple and straight forward.


So do you want a well rounded good at everything character that comes with a little bit of complexity?
Or do you want a simple unstoppable melee beast with little to no utility?

Both are great