The new College of Dance Bard subclass looks like it will be really fun. Unarmed strikes whose damage scales with Bardic Inspiration dice and uses Dex. Unarmored Defense that adds Charisma. Bonus action unarmed strikes when you use Bardic Inspiration.
You get to be 3/4 of a Monk, but also be a Face, and also be a full caster, and also get half proficiency in everything. And then the level six stuff buffs your party’s initiative and movement to the point it’ll be very hard to get the drop on you.
A fantastic new subclass all around.
Being in melee might be a little tough, at least single class. Probably depends on the table
D8 hit die, no shields or shield spell, AC might be higher than studded Leather if you play point buy, standard array your gonna miss out on feats but it probably works out
Studded Leather: 12+dex CoD Bard Unarmored Defense: 10+dex+cha
I think it would be just as viable as Monk up in the front lines. As a lvl 4 monk, you’ve probably got 18 Dex and 14ish Wis. That’s AC 16. Dance Bard will have 14ish Dex and 18 Cha, so also AC 16. Same d8 hit die as Monk, too.
But no disengage as a bonus action, or disengage & dodge or dash with 1FP
No deflect attacks (1d10+dex+Monk level reduction in damage as a reaction)
No evasion(no damage for dex saves that would do half on success, half on failure)
You also only get your pseudo-extra attack when you expend a bardic inspiration, which is gonna be limited per rest, and requires you to be in melee when you expend the die.
Your also not going to scale your dex before your cha, so your to-hit is going to fall behind enemy AC even at level 1.
Plus, Bard can Cure Wounds themselves