First off, I know this isn't optimized at all. However in the Skulls and Shackles campaign I'm in my Sea Singer bard has obtained a magical boarding pike, which is a 1d8 reach weapon she can use.
The GM of the campaign has made it clear he isn't fond of the 'magic item store' approach to games, so we are encouraged to use what we can find or make ourselves as opposed to planning on going shopping for our gear. As any nice magical 1-handers she could use will likely go to the group Swashbuckler, and as she's not designed to be a front line fighter anyway, I figured why not keep and use this weapon?
The thing is I haven't really designed a character that used reach weapons before, so I'm not immediately familiar with what is available to make them more efficient. Also, this is my first time playing a bard, so I'm not entirely familiar with what is available to them either! So any advice would be useful.
Currently it's a Half-elf (shoreborn) Sea Singer bard at level 3 with a 12 Str, 14 Dex, 18 Char, and enough bonuses to profession:sailor to make the any DC of 20 or lower pretty much auto successes. She took Weapon Finesse at level 1, but that will likely get retrained, and Phalanx Formation at level 3 after some frustrating missed AoOs due to soft cover. The character concept is to be the party face/group buffer/ship captain, and not necessarily a combat heavy hitter.
I agree with Malag..if it is a low magic type campaign it would be good to. As for reach...maybe combat reflexes...with the 10 ft reach you might get some extra attacks (up to 3 AoO). Power attack would be nice but your str is too low and hit probably isnt the greatest to sacrifice accuracy.
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If you dont know what kind of equipment you will be getting and are not playing a fighting class, you might be ahead to build towards other roles and focus more on being combat support.
Spend your feats on things that will enhance your skills, saves and spellcasting. A bard can probably get more use out of an extended spell than spending 5 feats to build up to whirlwind attack. Rely on your spells and bardic abilities to buff up for a fight instead of trying to build around a less than optimal weapon.
As to the boarding pike, there is a lot to be said for flanking and aid another. It is not as glorious as being able to deliver the killing blow, but granting your bruiser a +4 to hit can make a world of difference. Of course.