| Corian |
I have built 2 different melee Bards but both in 3.5. One was an Orog the other was a Centaur. Both solved the 2 major problems with being a melee Bard.
1) You only have 3/4 Bab which leaves you hurting for ability to hit, the melee Cleric can make up for this with long term buffs and high strength
2) You have low Hps...very low for a front liner, this means you need to have a high Con and possibly the Toughness feat as well to make up for the lack of HPs
You also have a host of lesser problems, poor weapon proficiencies inability to wear decent armor and at low levels you must spend your first action in every combat buffing. Pathfinders faster inspire courage at high levels helps deal with this but the massively reduced duration means that you have to pick and choose when to buff.
With the base races in Pathfinder while it is possible to build a melee Bard it is very difficult to make an effective melee Bard.