New to D&D 5e. I have  been wanting to play a character that has “shaman-like” properties. Primarily to give buffs to other characters with maybe some magical healing.  While I attempt to research all the spell lists, I am sure someone with way more knowledge already knows (thank you in advance for being so well-read, btw. It is no small feat!)

what class has the most buff spells?  I am looking for spells to increase armor class, maybe help give pluses to hit or damage rolls, protection from poisons and other ill effects?

i would think the druid would fit that shaman/uncivilized role better than a cleric, but I suppose if a DM would work with me I could make a cleric shamanistic as well and worship some animal spirit or similar.

thanks for any input. I am still reading/learning, but it’s difficult to capture all the infor with a family and FT job.

A druid might fit the roleplay aspect, but they are not well supplied with buff spells. I would recommend a Cleric of the Nature Domain. That gives you all the classic Cleric buff spells like Bless and Aid, plus Barkskin from the druid list and a very nature-aligned feel with controlling animals, plants and elemental forces.

You could be a Cleric of a specific Nature god, or just a Shaman of Nature in general if your DM is happy to not slap a label on it.

Good luck and have fun.

I knew there would be at least one person knowledgeable.  Thank you for the quick response. I will look into that!

Cleric is probably the most straightforward option here. Absolutely tons of options, including non-concentration buffs, and you could pretty easily make a 'shamanistic' cleric. 

Druids, bards, and even sorcerer/wizards have a good slew of buffs as well, and could all be quite functional. Wizards make poor healers, though. Divine Soul Sorcerer probably has the largest access to buff spells in the game (access to the full cleric list and the full sorcerer list), and can use metamagic to enhance those buffs. Just keep in mind that Sorcerers are limited in their spell selection, so your particular character will have to pick and choose which buffs to focus on, and lock themselves into that. Clerics or Druids can experiment a bit more thanks to being prepared casters, and let you bring the appropriate buff spells to various different scenarios.

The Fey Touched feat is a good way to grab an extra key buff that is outside of your class list. Both [/spell]Bless[/spell]and [/spell]Gift of Alacrity[/spell] are solid options - it just kinda depends on your party. 

I’ll second the divine soul sorcerer. As mentioned, they’re very capable at support, buffing and healing with access to both the spell lists and then metamagic allows one to do unique things with those spells like twin haste or reach cure wounds. A couple of caveats: while you do have access to all the healing and condition removal spells, due to the limited number of spells you can know, you prolly want to find other ways to cast them like potions and scrolls, and eventually a staff of healing. Maybe the other party members can help out there too—the warlock in my group can remove curse so I don’t need to, for example. As well, a bloodwell vial should be a priority for you; recovering 5 sorcery points on a short rest once per day really helps to extend your daily contribution.

Side note, I personally feel like a mechanic to recover sorcery points on a short rest is the only fix the class, or at least the divine soul subclass, needs. It’s rather a shame you gotta prioritize getting an item and spend an attunement slot to approach par. Even so, I have tons of fun playing one and highly recommend it. 

Note that most buff spells are concentration, so picking a class that has the "most" buff spells won't necessarily help.

You need to find classes which provide non-concentration buff spells like Aid.

That is good to know since I cannot do two concentration spells at the same time. There are some good options I am exploring between Nature domain cleric and divine sorcerer as my two most interesting classes