Arelith

Apologies in advance for what will likely seem like a really dumb question.

Looking at reworked bard and the suggested plug-and-play builds I've found, it looks like adapting the human bases to moon elf (not sun elf, not wood elf, not wild elf, not sea elf, not avariel--moon elf) are pretty dramatic to the point of them not being feasible, since CON is important and DEX looks useless for new bard. Is there a completely different angle that could be taken to make the base concept of "moon elf bard" work?

It really depends what you want out of the Bard. I feel like full 30 is a trap in a lot of cases, but at least 21 functions great. If you just wanna vomit out bard song/curse song effects and dump buffs everywhere then a steady focus on con and charisma will do you a world of good. As for different angles of bard play there is a lot of options. I've seen caster bards that have shadow mage levels of save dc on their mind effecting spells, every flavor of melee bard you can imagine, aa/bard/paladin, the list goes on. So I'd ask what else besides "Be a Bard" you'd like mechanically from the character?

If there's a reasonable option that accounts for the -2 Con/+2 Dex handicap, I'd prefer something more support/caster-y, and ideally CG-compatible (which would rule out shadow mage or pally dips). It's mostly trying to work with the archetypal moon elf and the archetypal bard, but if it has to buckle for feasibility, so it goes.

You could just go very heavy bard, or even full 30. You won't be soloing a huge amount of content or anything but you'll have a big bard song and you can be the local appraise monkey. I have however though the move passive supports such as bards that just wander around with song/curse and maybe toss out a mass haste or the healer clerics that throw regen on every one and then stand in the back are monumentally less helpful than they could be. So taking something like weapon focus and epic weapon focus ranged or building into a tank with a fighter or cot dip gives you way more utility without losing too many bard levels. Caster side you can just stack on a bunch of great cha's and toss spells. It's probably weaker than a shadow mage at the job of mind spell spam but it'll do work none the less, and have big bard song/curse song to boot.

I guess that in the absence of high enough CON for EDR feats you can still do something like 27 bard 3 paladin/bg or 25 bard 5 paragon, get 14 con + gfit for 16, and crank up that cha. get song of the heart etc etc. I dont think it's as good as EDR bard but for an elf it's probably the best available option.

You know there is that drow crossbow with 5d6 sneak attack that a evil elf can use...right? That is good for dex bard. Nothing wrong with coming up with a rp build. As long as you love it.

No one relies on a bard to hit dragons with sword so do not worry about ab.

Bard/warlock can be very good, 18+3 net 21 bard lv, you can have a terrific summon to walk with you and infinite spell to burn