Where to put Odd Spell-Casters: Bard, Witch, etc?

[Tony Vargas]

With a focus on simplicity and modularity, I doubt we'll see the bard in the 5e Players Handbook.

With a high degree of customizeability and modularity, it might be possible to build a large number of caster concepts - witch, evoker, bard, diviner, warlock, artificer, necromancer, binder, beguiler, etc - from a small number of classes, like, well: Mage.

OTOH, depending on the aproach to modularity, you may have very few meaningful character choices until you add modules, and if you want something quite specific, you'll just have to wait for the right bolt-on module to come out.