[RPG] Is a party consisting of only a bard, a cleric, and a warlock functional long-term

classdnd-5eparty-formation

After considering it for a long time, I have finally decided to try DMing.
The campaign I'm planning is entirely homebrew, and, as an aspiring author, I'm going to focus a bit more on lore, plot, and character building than on combat, but there will still be fighting (I've planned at least a few boss battles.)

Three of my friends will be players, but only one has played before. The players opted for a half-elf cleric, a gnome warlock, and a tabaxi bard, and now I'm worried about this party's composition.

Clerics and bards are often healers and usually lack meaningful offensive spells, so I sense they may end up relying on the warlock for offense. Should I be concerned that this party will be unable to defeat foes that a more traditional party could? Should I encourage the bard's player, who upon making her character stated that she'd be okay with playing a different class despite her initial preference, to pick a different class so that the party can engage in combat better?

My campaign is 100% homebrew, and I'm still writing parts of it down as me and my players prepare for the game. I have a lot of backstory, future plot-points, and NPCs (as well as the introduction) "done". I'm letting my players know some key elements (without spoiling) about the campaign so they can adjust their characters accordingly, and I plan to adjust my campaign as I write to fit their backstories and such as well.

Best Answer

You don't have a party balance problem unless you create one.

In certain editions of D&D (mostly 4th), there were definitely more stringent requirements for class/party balance. That is not the case in 5th Edition. Any party can be successful, if they play to their strengths. As a DM you always need to pay attention to the types of enemies you throw at the characters.

What's challenging for a melee heavy party may be simple for your caster-heavy party, while the inverse can be equally true. You should also pay some mind to what the players like. Some enjoy mind puzzles, others enjoy intricate tactical combat, some enjoy pure socializing. As long as the DM doesn't put up deliberate roadblocks, forcing the party to us a single solution, your group should be okay.

Character Competencies

You do have some misconceptions about how the bard and cleric can function. They are certainly both capable healers, but they don't have to focus on that. In 5E, bulk healing is often an out-of-combat task: heals-per-round can never keep up with damage-per-round. It can only bring people up who went down and maybe buy a little extra time. Good crowd control is actually more important than good combat healing, and crowd control is something both the bard and cleric can do.

Depending on domain, Clerics can be competent at healing (Life is super good at it), battle (War or Tempest), or even combat spellcasting (Light). All clerics have access to some real gems, like Guiding Bolt (solid damage, and grants advantage to a later attack) and Spirit Guardians (one of the best lower-level area control spells).

Bards can heal, sure, but honestly... there are a lot of classes that can get access to healing. What bards really do is support and control. Don't underestimate Bardic Inspiration; a few points here or there can be clinch. Even low level spells like Dissonant Whispers have good crowd control abilities, causing people to run and provoke attacks of opportunities. Hypnotic Pattern, an excellent lock-down spell, is on the bard list too. Furthermore, any bard can potentially learn any spell in the game - Magic Secrets is no joke, and Lore Bards get it relatively early.

The only one-trick pony in your group is the warlock, and even that's a slight exaggeration. They're certainly less flexible than other spell casters, but warlock invocations can be very powerful. If the player picks the right spells (if it doesn't scale with level, it's probably not a good Warlock pick) they can be a powerhouse.

A Note on Worldbuilding or "No plan survives first contact."

Never forget that it's a gaming group. The DM's responsibility is to facilitate fun for everybody. It sounds like part of your fun includes the world building aspect, and that's great. Just be careful to give the players options; let them explore your world, don't force them down a particular path just because you have a neat bit of lore to share over there. Encourage, but never force.