Build to Balance an All Damage Party

[Ancalagon]

Maybe a swashbuckling rogue? A monk? A hexblade? Something that jives with the fighting ethos of the party, but also brings a bit of diversity.

 

[Satyrn]

Until you are higher level, it's a bit harder to build a buff-only wizard than you'd think. The spells just aren't in the book. It gets better at higher levels.

It looks like he's starting at 5th level. Is that high enough to be decent, if not great?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I like a buffing sorcerer. Maybe halfelf drahon sorx
cerer with respectable dex, con and charisma using twin haste and other twinned buff spells. You can get away with 16 dex, con and cha. Shield spell gets you out of trouble.
The alternate route could be a valour bard like the one treant mong suggests. High ac buffing and debuffing character that at this level can even go into melee if everything else goes wrong.

 

[Shiroiken]

Ancestral Guardian Barbarian
Champion Fighter (bow)
Hunter Ranger
Forge Cleric

With this party, a switch hitter, who can move between ranged and melee is optimal. Rogue is the best in this regard, and fits with the DPR scheme of the party (best defense is a good offense). If you want to do support, Bard is the obvious choice, and College of Lore can be amazing with Cutting Words. Bard AC might be a bit of an issue, so College of Valor might work as well, since it gives you both medium armor and shields.

I got to watch them play and it's pretty much a DPS race. The Cleric mostly runs bane and goes into melee. The two ranged characters plink away and the barbarian rages and tanks.

Tell your Cleric to switch to Bless, rather than Bane. Bane only works until that enemy is dead, while Bless keeps working for most of the combat (and helps his save for spell Concentration).

 

[aco175]

A cleric that is a pacifist and only takes defensive fighting, but has a good AC. He can suck up damage and then heal himself. This frees the others to deal more damage and save some of their HP. Have fun with it and come up with a couple cool catchphrases.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Really, anything can work here. I could see:

Bard
Cleric (particularly Light)
Druid
Monk
Paladin
Rogue (stick to the Ancestral Guardian)
Wizard

Wizard is going to fill the biggest gaps in the party, followed by Bard and Druid, but they're not necessary. I would avoid Sorcerer or Warlock, but I don't like those classes.

 

[TwoSix]

Tell your Cleric to switch to Bless, rather than Bane. Bane only works until that enemy is dead, while Bless keeps working for most of the combat (and helps his save for spell Concentration).

While tactically optimal, I would advise against joining a new group and immediately telling them how to play their characters.

 

[Eltab]

That group needs an AoE, I think. And somebody who can do other than kick down the door.
A Wizard if you want to DPR via Fireball &c, or a DEX/CHR Bard with the usual social skills. Somebody is going to have to sweet-talk the Police after the group takes down Mr. Big and all his friends.

 

[200orcs]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Seems like most casters can fulfill the role.

Bard, Wizard, Druid seem to be the most recommended. I guess Sorcerer is another option but I am a bit hesitant because of how limited they are with the number of spells known. I do not want to play a Paladin, that's the last class I played.

Luckily I enjoy all three of those classes conceptually.

I think I am leaning most towards a Wizard, mainly because there are not that many social interactions in the campaign it seems and a CHA based caster would be a bit of a waste.

Debating on which archetype. Part of me is thinking that Abjurer would be awesome to counterspell spells, which I suspect the party will be weak against, but it might be a little bit too defensive. Usually when I play casters I almost never get hit.

I don't like Divination primarily because 2 rolls sound like a lot, but they really are not. I get stuck with the should i use this ability now or wait?

 

[Blue]

I'm for the buffing / crowd control full caster for combat. Outside of combat it looks like they could use a face, and maybe some roguely bits and knowledge skills.

Sorcerer with twin makes a great buffer, I'll jump on that bandwagon. Start with twin Haste, graduate up to twin Greater Invisibility at 7th. Easy to do Face. Divine Soul (from Xanathar's Guide to Everything) gives you all the fun cleric spells as well - Bless is low level and great for when you want to conserve your highest level slots.

Bards make great crowd control, go with something like College of Glamour (Xanathar's Guide again) for some non-concentration buffing with the amazing Mantle of Inspiration. Rearrange your side on the battlefield, without triggering OAs, and grant temp HPs. Even easier than sorcerer to do Face.

Wizard has all the spells and can swap them out. Plus ritual cast anything in your book even if you don't know it. Load up on knowledge skills. Divination is always fun, or Abjuration if you think they won't protect you well enough. Bladesinger just for the bonus to AC & Concentration might also work.

Don't have a good roguely option for you, but the right background and a decent Dex can fit onto any of these if it's really something you need.