To know what a monk need, we need to know what a monk is and is not. And if those match what we want.
Current monk:
- It's a skirmisher. It's not a front-liner.
- It's currently an action-denial specialist. It's not a striker.
- It's subclasses are all over in terms of both theme, power, and efficiency. For instance 4 Elements is an homage to Avatar: The Last Arirbender but the Ki usage to mimic those archetypes is way more then other subclasses use for basic foundational presentation.
- It's very dependent on class levels for both Ki and Martial Arts die.
- MAD: DEX, WIS, CON at the least.
- Low level monks run out of Ki so quickly, losing much of what makes them fun to play.
For me, I like that the base class is a skirmisher and not a front-liner. Increased mobility, not increased staying power, is what should be delivered and generally is. I wouldn't mind a little more single-target mitigation. And a tanking subclass would be fine.
Which brings to widening the class. Other types of pugilists, wrestlers, and full-body fighters. A STR build that isn't just more MAD since we still need DEX for defense. These I'd like to see - more options that don't stack with each other but do give flexibility in covering more archetypes.
The action-denial of Stunning Fist is strong, especially at spamming multiple save-or-suck the same round until a save is failed and/or legendaries saves are burned through, but it's a bit of a one trick pony. I'd love to see equally valid play styles without focusing on that that don't take a power hit. Stunning Fist is just 1 Ki.
I'd like to see Martial Arts die start off a bit higher, and go up with character level just like cantrips do, and for the same reason. Right now monks are dependent on super DEX to add to damage for their larger-than-average number of attacks to be reasonable (and still not strikers). This limits advancement choices, and also can favor rolling well over point buy.
Several of the points above bring up MAD, and we haven't even really touched needing WIS for saves and AC, and CON for HPs yet. Consolidating some could definitely help. Simple is to make martial arts work with DEX or WIS, and the weapon-wielding subclass (currently Kensei) also allows WIS use. More complex but potentially more fulfilling is to allow STR, DEX or WIS for martial arts, and each of them gets a different rider so what ability score you pick will make a difference in play. Now that I've written that, I really like it.
Allow more fantastical uses of physical prowess, like we see in Martial Arts movies. Wuxia, impossible jumps, parrying magic attacks, diving out of a area of effect, etc. More than just reducing damage from a single ranged attack. Codifying this will help the issue where some people who play see magic as able to break the "psychics engine" rules but anything done by martials must fit real-world criteria.
Make that Ki is for doing something amazing, not a resource for basic actions. A monk without Ki should still feel like a monk, play like a monk, and be at a reasonable point of the power curve. Alternately, give out a lot more Ki, such as partial refills on every Initiative roll.
Some of the later subclasses got the idea correct that the mystic energy of Ki can be used in places besides combat, like Mr. Miyagi fixing Daniel-san's knee.
Have features for other pillars of play that spotlight "this is a monk".
