First of all if you have only whirl as maledict don't waste time on it. Even if bard has no +str gear(wich is hardly imaginable) blade of the codex strenght would cover strenght loss from whirl. About dexterity loss...I hardly can imagine longliving human/halfie bard without swashbuckler, so you won't be able to cripple his dodging by dex drop(though dex is still importatnt for someother skills like trip, roundhouse...if you care:). All in all if you go to maledict bard I'd suggest to focus just on strenght loss,though even that might not work with +str gear, blade of the codex and so on.