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A little while ago I had had an idea for a Chaotic Evil bard. Essentially, I wanted to create an intelligent Chaotic Evil character who defied typical RPG conventions. Instead of being a disorganized mess that slaughtered indiscriminately, I wanted to create a cruel manipulator who refused to get his hands dirty. He would plot and trick, but instead of using these ends to gain control or wealth, he simply liked to sew as much disaster and destruction as possible. My DM initially said no Evil character so I scrapped the concept and made an Unarmed Fighter build instead.
Well, oh happy day, he said I could play the character after all! Just so long as I don't do that other typical RPG convention and use a Chaotic Evil alignment as an excuse to screw the party over.
After reading Treantmonk's guide I realized his controller bard build would be perfect for the concept--in fact, the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Net) even fit my back story of being the child of an honest, but struggling, fisherman perfectly; the only problem is I can't quite take Weapon Focus (Whip) at Level 1. I took Combat Expertise instead, and am now trying to figure out what the best chain to follow-up with would be. Tripping or Feinting? Also open to feat suggestions in the later levels, for a campaign that will be capping between Levels 10-12.
Here's the build, if it helps (25 point buy):
Male Chaotic Evil Human Bard, Level 1, Init +2, HP 8/8, Speed
AC 17, Touch 12, Flat-footed 15, Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +2, Base Attack Bonus 0
Trip Whip +3 (1d3+3, x2)
Touch Attack, Entangle Net +2 (-, -)
Nonlethal Sap +3 (1d4+3, x2)
Chain Shirt, Buckler (+4 Armor, +1 Shield, +2 Dex)
Abilities Str 16, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 17
Condition None
Feats Combat Expertise, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Net)
Lv 0 Spells (At will, DC 13) - Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Mending, Detect Magic
Lv 1 Spells (2/day, DC 14) - Charm Person, Hideous Laughter
Well, the main points of the character concept seem to be sowing death, destruction, and confusion all around, so rather than go for "I have more combat ability" you might want to go for feats that increase your ability to deceive and manipulate people, or increase your ability to make others' combat ability more destructive.
Spell Focus: Enchantment (followed up by Greater Spell Focus), Skill Focus: Bluff, Deceitful, and perhaps Lingering Music are all possibilities.
If you do want to go with the combat fears, I'd focus on tripping over feinting. Tripping brings them down where you and everyone else get a bonus to attack them, and keeps them from moving around; feinting opens them up for more attacks from you, but unlike a rogue (who can sneak attack) you don't really have anything more powerful to attack with after you feint.
And if you're planning to fight with a net (ie at close range) I'd really make sure your con was higher than 10. Otherwise you'll die the first time you miss with a net and somebody else connects with a solid blow.
Strength, probably. You are not a fighter even if you do get good at tripping.
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Drop strength down to 14 to bring constitution up to 14. Even with constitution 10 you should have 9 hit points, because no bard should spend his favoured class bonus on just another skill.
You're not actually able to take Exotic Weapon Proficiency until you have a BAB of +1, so grab that feat later, or else make him a half-orc instead. That could be one more reason for him to have a chip on his shoulder in fact, and he could get around it with disguise self.