class selection advice

[n00b]

So the DM has relaxed some of the Gritty Realism rules that were going to be in the campaign and we will now be getting spell slots back on normal rests. We have a heavy melee group and I'd like to play a full caster but am unsure which one to pick as I've never played one at all.

Campaign starts at level 5 and will run through level 14.

Current party makeup is :

Hexblade
Rogue 3/Trickster Cleric 2
Fighter
Barbarian
Paladin

So you can see the front line is pretty well covered. Mechanically I'd like to play a bard, but I don't want to "play" a bard (no pun intended). What other full caster would round out the party best?

[Mortis_Elrod]

Wizard or Druid would do well here.

I’d go Druid of Shepherd Circle and play the battlefield controller.

[Ogre Mage]

I would consider a diviner or evoker wizard. Some ranged AoE would help. Light Domain cleric might also work.

[bid]

God wizard, the treantmonk's kind.

If you'd rather be outdoorsy, druid is nice.

[Lunali]

Could always play the infiltrator type of bard instead of the spotlight kind.

[ImproperJustice]

Play a Lore Bard as a scholar who simply keeps a storehouse of ancient words, secret knowledge, and religious/ arcane rituals at hand.
Nothing says you have to be the stereotypical troubadour.

Our last Bard, role-played himself as a traveling missionary of some FR deity. He came off so much like a cleric we forgot he was a Bard.

[carrdrivesyou]

I would suggest a Diviner Wizard or an Order of the Nomad Mystic. Would nicely offset the skill sets as well as the abilities.