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The Issue
So going through the playtest Monk rules, I could see that the Monk was built to be a frontliner (rather than a skirmisher).
Now, that's perfectly fine, but it seems to me like the only viable builds require stacking DEX. Even if, as the Developers have said, a high STR/low DEX build could survive, there is little incentive to deviate from the high DEX build.
For this reason, I propose the following Class Feat:
Practiced Defense – Feat 1
[Monk] – Choose Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma. While unarmored, you may add that modifier to your AC instead of your Dexterity modifier.
What this does
Applying a feat like this increases the amount of viable Monk builds exponentially. You'll have STR/DEX, STR/INT, STR/WIS, STR/CHA and several DEX variants.
It enables many different concepts by, most importantly, moving the Monk away from the "MMA acrobat" vibe it has now, and allowing for Monks that have a larger focus on esoteric disciplines like Occultism, Religion, Medicine, etc.
Possible Ramifications
One possible ramification that comes to mind is the appearance of "multiclassed casting Monks". They'd stack up on a single mental attribute and pick up Multiclass Archetypes to gain casting abilities.
I... think this might be fun? These characters would obviously take a large opportunity cost – the class chassis would be great for defenses, but a lot of budget would be wasted on unarmed abilities that won't be put to use, and they'd never have higher proficiencies in Spellcasting. So it's a very limited trade off?
The other possible ramification is that casters could pick up the Monk archetype to get Practiced Defence. Considering that 2 feats would be needed to do this, it seems to me that it'd be simpler to pick up armor proficiencies.
Closing
Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you are able to apply this <3
Bump for visibility <3
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I kind of like it. They specifically didn't want to allow two ability scores added to AC, so this replacement option should fly.
Alternatively, I might add to some of the style feats "while in this stance, you may choose to use your Con/Int/Wis/Cha instead of Dex to add to your AC". Your feat might be considered a feat tax, but adding it as a bonus to some of the style feats might make them more interesting and reward that diversity of builds, including having more or less even stats all the way across.
I kind of like it. They specifically didn't want to allow two ability scores added to AC, so this replacement option should fly.
Alternatively, I might add to some of the style feats "while in this stance, you may choose to use your Con/Int/Wis/Cha instead of Dex to add to your AC". Your feat might be considered a feat tax, but adding it as a bonus to some of the style feats might make them more interesting and reward that diversity of builds, including having more or less even stats all the way across.
Problem with that is that Stances would be less friendly for stance-dancing.
Maybe tack something else on the feat, like gaining a Signature Skill associated with the attribute. So INT-AC Monks could nab Occultism, WIS-AC Monks could grab Medicine, CHA-AC Monks could grab Deception, stuff like that.