Unarmed damage, weapons, and monks

[biotech66]

I love monks and monk weapons, but after a few levels the weapons are almost useless. Maybe a feat could help with that? What do you guys think of this:

Strength of my Hand-Feat-When you strike with a weapon, its almost like you hit with your fists-When you use a weapon with which you are proficient, you may choose to use your unarmed damage instead of the weapons damage. In addition, you may apply any effects that both the weapon and your unarmed attack, but you may only apply the higher magic bonus for the your unarmed attack or the weapon.

 

[Vadskye]

I feel like feat risks going in the opposite direction and making monk fists obsolete. Why would I ever fight unarmed if I had this feat? Instead, what if you applied the lower magic bonus for your unarmed attack of the weapon. You could also make this a weapon special ability.

 

[GMMichael]

You don't need a feat, because monk weapons are not useless at all. Many of them have special features that give you more interesting options than unarmed strikes do, and as objects, they can receive enchantments (i.e. be magical items) that unarmed strikes cannot. These features should outweigh the fact that monk weapons don't increase in mundane damage in the way that unarmed strikes do.