I think that many of us have some sort of issue/gripe/problem with the monk class. Mine happens to be the relationship between the monk's weapon proficiencies, monk weapons (the flurry ones) and unarmed strikes.
At first, it was just about the difference in damage, but as my play style matured, I learned that damage output isn't all there is to a character - there is also flash and style. Weapon-based martial arts are visually stunning and weapon choice plays a big role in defining a character. Unfortunately, the monk's selection of weapons are the most mechanically boring and vanilla items in the rule book.
So, I've started looking at means for spicing up the monk's weapon selection. Either tweaking the weapon mechanics slightly or looking at new ways to use existing weapons.
You can find it over here. Let me know what you think.
Interesting, though some of it was silly (chopsticks getting bonuses vs. insects, for example).
I too want monks to have better weapon selections, but there is a big drawback, especially for people who like published adventures: even the core monk weapons almost never seem to to show up in the adventure's list of treasure. I can't remember the last time I found a magical quarterstaff in a treasure hoard, let alone magical sai. Sure, if I am a DM creating my own adventures, I will tailor the treasures, somewhat, to the PCs - meaning if I have a player running a monk I will drop a few monkly magic items for that player.
But even that feels strange. Here we have a clearly European-style world, almost every person, place, and monster in the game comes from western lore and mythology. I don't see a core Li Lung dragon, or a core Wu Jen, or a core pagoda. Killing a troll and finding a magical nunchaku seems odd somehow.
The whole monk class really just doesn't belong in this game. All the core/iconic material is antithetical to the concept of the oriental monk, and when people create generic adventures, the stories, plots, places, NPCs, monters, and treasure tend to reflect this a vast majority of the time.
Adding more stuff that will never show up in the any adventures is just teasing these poor monks.
Yes, sure, it's up to the DM to take his adventure, store-bought or home-made, and edit those treasure lists to add stuff for the monk PC, if he has one. In that case, adding more stuff makes sense - now the DM has more stuff to choose from and the player has more choices for his monk.
All that being said, I don't think adding more weapons will solve the monk's main problem: after just a few levels the monk does more damage bare handed than he can ever hope to do with weapons.
To me, that has always been the tragic flaw of the 3.x monk class. I have a black belt in Kenpo Karate and a few years studying other forms like Jujitsu, Aikido, and Tae Kwon Do, and my studies have indluded traditional weapons like the nunchaku, sai, bo, jo, and katana (both kenjutus and kendo, actually, with some iaido just for fun). I can state with a great deal of certainty that I can deal a whole lot of damage with my empty hand. I can also state with equal certainty that I can deal far more damage with any of those weapons I just mentioned.
It's sad that the 3.x/Pathfinder monk concept is so focused on bare-handed flurry damage that the concept of using weapons is swept under the rug. It really takes a lot of wind out of the monk's sails, and until that situation is remedied, adding more weapons to this broken concept is just rubbing salt in the broken monks's wounds.
Not that I didn't like the ideas (I just had to rant a little; it's a sore subject for me). Good work on those, and keep them coming.
@DM_Blake: Glad you liked the ideas (yeah, the sticks are a bit silly) and don't worry about ranting - I also tend to rant when discussing the monk.
You make a good point about the availability of monk items in the average adventure. That's why intend to look at monk-ifying some of the more common weapons, probably through feats, especially those weapons that are common across many cultures/martial arts.
Eberron 3.X had some feats that allowed the monk to treat a certain selection of additional weapons as monk weapons. I found these feats wasted as soon as the unarmed strike started to outperform damage-wise. So, I'm going to try and figure out a way of making the weapons useful in some other fashion.
About once a year, I try to rebuild the monk class. I think next time I'll keep the unarmed strike damage down and see what I come up with.
In case you're interested, Luven Lightfinger's Gear & Treasure Shop offers a selection of Monk Weapons: Jian, Shanggou Jian, Deer Horn Knives, Hook Swords, Butterfly Swords, Meteor Hammer, Podao, Judges' Pens, and Wind and Fire Wheels.
I've been playing around with the idea in my head about letting a Monk character that wanted to use a Monk Weapon rather than Unarmed Strikes to use their Unarmed Strike damage progression for their "Monk Weapon of Choice." The only real "problem" I see with this is a Monk/Duelist using a Siangham because they'd could deal 1d10 (I think) and add their Precise Strike damage. Also if 3.5 material is allowed there are some more builds that would be somewhat problematic (Monk/Dervish with kamas comes to mind) but my groups been using the Core/Playtest classes only.
I'm not really sure that coolness is the important part. ;-)
|
The thing that bothers me about monks isn't so much that the monk weapons are (as far as weapons go) pretty crappy, but that they *never* get better with them. As far as I'm concerned the monk should get some kind of damage improvement progression for all monk weapons, not just their fists.
I was debating house-ruling that monks get to choose one monk weapon that gets a damage progression (basically, treat as one size bigger every time that monk unarmed strike damage goes up). I'll work on that later though.
As far as the weapons you've made go, they're okay. They don't really solve the basic "unwhelming" nature of monk weapons compared to their unarmed strike. As it stands now the only advantage of using a monk weapon is getting more + enhancement equivalent on them than you can with an amulet of mighty fists.
I do like the pole-arm acrobat feat, however, and have always believed that pole-arms could use some love.
|
The thing that bothers me about monks isn't so much that the monk weapons are (as far as weapons go) pretty crappy, but that they *never* get better with them.
Back in 1st edition, IIRC, Monks got a +1 damage / 2 levels with weapons. That might be an interesting option to re-introduce.
Alternately, it could be an Alternate Class feature, for a monk that has specialized a bit more in the use of weapons, to get the +1/2 monk level in weapon damage, but progress Unarmed damage one die lower (so that a Medium sized monk would use the Small monk progression, while a Small monk would start with 1d3 and advance from there).
Personally the monk is my favored class, i love the idea of taking on whatever the world can offer me with nothing but my body as a weapon. So i have never cared much for looking for monk weapons.
The problem i have with monks in Pathfinder is that for flavor the monk seems to have lost some of his spiritual aspect and comes across as more of brawler, but that is up to each player to build upon anyway.
My own take on that was creating a Monk variant named "Mystic Warden".
Simply gave the Monk a "Weapon of Choice" that he was or became proficient with (as I was just dealing with elves at that design stage, the point was rather moot - they get Longswords for free). Of course, he started with a masterwork variant of that kind of weapon. Oh, and it had to be a light, one-handed, or two-handed weapon because of the FLurry of Blows mechanic.
Instead of his Monk Abilities working with unarmed strikes, he could channel all of them through his weapon of choice and got +1 on damage with this kind of weapon every 4 Levels. Also, I removed his unarmed strike damage progression, keeping it at level 1's damage.
Might need some overhauling with Pathfinder, though.
For me... monks are iconic unarmed fighters. The guy who goes crazy bad-ass with weapons is the fighter.
Of course, a fighter focusing on unarmed fighting is probably better at it than a monk.
I like this Mystic Warden idea in general, but still think it's awfully limiting.
IMO, since monks already have a narrowly defined "monk weapons" list, I'm more leaning towards just granting them +1 size step in damage progression that will match exactly with their weapon damages, but only for "monk" weapons. {I'd include additional "asian-themed" weaponry as well when/if such things are encountered in-game, though.} If that's too much for most, I'd suggest the "Warden"-like focus for 1 particular weapon (from the monk weapon list only - or whatever the GM approves otherwise), as a compromise. Essentially "open hand" remains a focus for all, and each monk can have 1 more specialty they can use their martial skill with in terms of exceptional weaponry.
I'm not sure if a fighter would be better at unarmed fighting, though ... definitely has more feats overall. I'd think this would mean more "maneuver mastery" in general. Higher bab, but only by 2, really ... hmm .. weapon training "unarmed" would net a +4/+4 on hit and damage, and wpn spec. tree can lead to a +6/+8 on damage, but the unarmed damage is still only 1d3. Of course, only dedicated ability is really str (as they can wear full plate or whatever and punch like crazy w/no problems), so that would boost up as well. Abilities aside, though, damage is 9-11 before something like an enhancement bonus on a gauntlet ... I still think the monks unarmed damage will surpass this amount, though on striking potential, a fighter is likely to pick up power attack and just have more options going unarmed in this fashion ... interesting. In the end I'll go w/the fighter hitting more often, and the monk dishing out more damage (especially if going by Treantmonk's "Bolo" build).
Issue I have is that all the "standard" monk weapons are oriental in influence. I have a player at the mo' wanting to play a Vudrani monk. Yea nunchucks are sooo Indian...
I'm not saying it's not useful, I'm simply saying it's not overpowering, or out of line for a basic race.Well, you're right. It won't unravel the fabric of the game.
However, giving the race the equivalent of a feat (Great Fortitude) for free in addition to several other useful abilities is a little unfair. In comparison to other races, this little guy is getting quite a bit.
I'm only suggesting minor tweeks. Take hardy down to a +1.
Half-Elves get Skill Focus (any) for free. Granted they get a little less in other areas.
Oh yeah, forgot to include that, sorry, I don't have the notes penned down anywhere near at the moment. >.<
The Mystic Warden added all weapon specific feats from the fighter list to his list of bonus feats AND treated his class level-2 as fighter levels, enabling him to choose even more feats from the combat list.
Of course, that was back in 3.5, I would have to have a look at the ramifications 3.75 would bring with it here...
Oh, and for someone who just wants to use a "non-asian" monk weapon there's always feats. In Eberron at least, there were feats that just let you treat a weapon of your choice as a special monk weapon. Get creative, have fun. ;-)
Interesting, though some of it was silly (chopsticks getting bonuses vs. insects, for example).
I LOVED the chopsticks....:)
Personally, I just let all monks choose a single weapon - regardless of if it's simple, martial, or exotic - and say that they're both proficient with it AND that it's a monk weapon.
Seriously, they're monks. It ain't gonna make them combat powerhouses.
For me... monks are iconic unarmed fighters. The guy who goes crazy bad-ass with weapons is the fighter.
Well, the problem with that is that usually the fighter is also the one who wears some kind of heavy armor. A lot of people want someone like Li Mu Bei http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQw5s2oiqk0
Somebody who is a swordmaster but has the same acrobatic and mystic strengths as a monk. That's something you can't just get through multiclassing. The only way to realise it at the moment is the ki focus weapon enchantment. But that's also a problem because usually it's the fighter who counts, not the weapon. If he loses his ki focus longsword he can't simply pick up another sword.
To fix the Monk problem, I homebrewed some unarmed feats and a few weapon feats that tended towards the Barbarian. But, at any rate, I did change Monks in my setting: Since the area is isolationist (And their Asian themed neighbors are an island of Tengu who they are unaware of) their monks are typically noblemen pugilists who gain power through training with esoteric techniques, using "Ki" (A word of the plains barbarians meaning "Soul") energy to perform fantastic feats, and use philosophy to better focus this power into themselves through a base understanding of the universe. So I basically dealt with the problem by avoiding it, I guess.
You could make weapon styles like I made my feats, modeled after the Scorpion Strike series in the Core Rulebook, but feel free to go crazy. I gave monks styles that give bonuses to CMD (Yes, more) AC and damage, as well as one that lowers Dex with every hit. I made them all conditional, although a couple of the conditions are very easy to meet. This means if the Pugilists know what another one's style is, he can attempt to beat them by disrupting these situational bonuses.
For weapons, I would suggest the Three-Section Staff (Two-Handed, 1d10, +2 to Disarm, Trip and Feint Checks), Butterfly Knives (Light, 1d6 18-20 x2, +2 to attack rolls when using two Butterfly Knives with two-weapon fighting), and the Weighted Chain (Reach Weapon, two-handed, 1d8 x3, +4 on checks to disarm). These are slightly more powerful than the current exotic weapons, but I am of the opinion that the exotic weapons aren't good enough currently.
Surprisingly, Monk/Fighter is not all that terrible, especially if you wear armor anyway and don't try to increase your wisdom. Flurrying with a weapon allowed by the DM would be a good plan for this kind of character. As previous posters have said, you're a monk. You're still not going to be all that fantastic even if you take levels in one of the best classes.
If you're wearing heavy armor (or any armor I think) you can't flurry, though ... might as well just be a fighter, although "light armor" fighter's are kind of non-starters as their AC is always a problem.
:shrugs:
I think it might be easier to just rule that monks do their unarmed damage when wielding special monk weapons (Maybe not shuriken....but maybe).
And it would be neat if each special monk weapon had a special monk ability, like kama giving a free trip attempt on a successful hit, nunchaku a free disarm check, etc. etc.
For me... monks are iconic unarmed fighters. The guy who goes crazy bad-ass with weapons is the fighter.
I missed this comment somehow :-/
For me, monks are the iconic eastern-inspired martial artists (not just unarmed). Maybe this is a conceptual thing :)
However, I do find that reflavouring a fighter or rogue works most of the time.
I think it might be easier to just rule that monks do their unarmed damage when wielding special monk weapons (Maybe not shuriken....but maybe).
And it would be neat if each special monk weapon had a special monk ability, like kama giving a free trip attempt on a successful hit, nunchaku a free disarm check, etc. etc.
*Some* have maneuver bonuses, but not all, already.
Not a bad idea to pursue, BUT now you mix "reality" with "rules" and it's not always a 100% mesh, so you could put in all this work, and end up with "reasonable" uses for the non-monk weapons to be picking up a bonus to maneuver X just as well.
I like the idea of just scaling up damage like/with the unarmed strikes as they go.
After re-watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, I cracked open the old Oriental Adventures and looked up the kensai, and the result was the Martial Artist that appears in A Fistful of Denarii. He has a very distinct style from the fighter, but hits just as hard, replacing high AC with improved mobility.
Well, at what level is the damage supposed to be the problem?
A level 12 monk hits for maybe 2d6 + str + 2 (amulet of mighty fists). Expected damage: 0.7 * 3 * 13 + 0.45 * 2 * 13 + 0.2 * 13 = 41.6
Or he wields a temple sword for 1d8 + str + 3 (+3 temple sword). Expected damage: 0.75 * 3 * 11.5 + 0.5 * 2 * 11.5 + 0.25 * 11.5 = 40.25
I'd say that is close enough to call them the same.
I think if you're pursuing the monk-weapon-specialist flavor, the damage doesn't necessarily have to be the problem. But a bigger choice of monk weapons would come in very handy.
After re-watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, I cracked open the old Oriental Adventures and looked up the kensai, and the result was the Martial Artist that appears in A Fistful of Denarii. He has a very distinct style from the fighter, but hits just as hard, replacing high AC with improved mobility.
I played the Oriental Adventures Kensei once using a Great Horn Hammer (monster manual 4), I know it's not necessarily what you'd expect but my critical range/mutiplier was 15-20x5. After our adventure ended the Iaijutsu Master and I settled a score from in game and although he dealt a bunch of damage to me in the 1st round I killed him with 1 attack after that :P
I think the Unorthodox Flurry feat was perfect for this - for two feats (one for the weapon proficiency, one for Unorthodox Flurry) you could use any weapon with the monk's flurry.
Another option as well is to have the 'ki-focus' feature do one important thing: permit the monk to apply their unarmed damage instead of the weapon's base damage. This at last makes the weapon-wielding monk effective.
A few things I've done for my system that aren't related to magic items but are still kinda related I guess or something. Most of them involve monks and/or full BAB classes, who I think need the most improvement both in mechanics and in flavor:
All full BAB classes get improved natural strike, though not monk damage. When a fighter can't naturally punch someone in the face, something is wrong. Fighters should always have "PUNCH TO THE FACE" as an option. This should be everyone's signiture everywhere in anything D&D related.
All full BAB characters can choose a single exotic (or martial, if they SOMEHOW don't have MWP I guess) weapon and gain proficiency in it. I frown on players who take stupid things like those weapons from Complete Adventurer which had no flavor at all, and were just "like a short sword but better!" I also hit players with a book who even mention the spiked chain. If a fighter wants to use a bastard sword as a katana, or an elven curve blade, or something from a 3.x book, typically the exotic weapon gives them all of .5-1 damage increase. That's nothing for the cost of a feat, especially since, nine out of ten times, it's taken because the player has this cool fluff idea for the weapon.
Monks can choose a single weapon - ANY weapon - and they not only gain proficiency with it, it becomes a monk item. Martial arts frequently had large amounts of weapons training, and I prefer my monks to be less terrible 70's pajama dudes, and more wushu/wuxia style heroes.
Monks replaced unarmed damage with "monk damage," as it applies to their monk weapons as well as their unarmed fightan. It does not apply to non-monk weapons. I've never once hit a balance problem with this, as it allows monks to be cool either when they fight unarmed or when they fight with a weapon. Furthermore, it negates any bonus of taking a stupid or rediculously powerful base weapon as their monk weapon as was listed above, as the damage will be replaced. If a player wants to be an unarmed badass who roams the lands and delivers a flurry of kicks, that's totally open to them. If they want to be the unarmored wise old swordsman who lacks some of the physical strength or speed of younger warriors, but makes up for it in sheer skill, guess what? That option is now - perhaps for the first time - WIDE open.
"Fighters should always have "PUNCH TO THE FACE" as an option."
I think the Unorthodox Flurry feat was perfect for this - for two feats (one for the weapon proficiency, one for Unorthodox Flurry) you could use any weapon with the monk's flurry.
Another option as well is to have the 'ki-focus' feature do one important thing: permit the monk to apply their unarmed damage instead of the weapon's base damage. This at last makes the weapon-wielding monk effective.
Yes, finally I can have a monk that crits on 15-20 (keen rapier), gets cheap enhancement costs on the item, and still deals nice high unarmed damage dice on it.
lol - I showed just a couple of posts ago that the damage difference between an unarmed-monk and weapon-wielding monk is very similar indeed. There is no need to "make it viable", except for the flavor. And the flavor you get for free.
|
Something we've done in our PF game is this.
Note: The “special monk weapons” listed in the Pathfinder rules are hereby abolished. The kama is simply a sickle; it is a simple weapon. Treat sai as daggers that deal bludgeoning damage. Treat the siangham as a shortspear, and treat shuriken as darts. The nunchaku is a light flail.
Then we allowed Flurry to be used with any weapon the Monk is proficient with. These changes solve the problem of monks finding magical monk weapons, and allow some benefits to multiclassing or taking weapon proficiency feats. We also use the half level to damage with weapons. Kirth is oldschool like that. :)
Monks can choose a single weapon - ANY weapon - and they not only gain proficiency with it, it becomes a monk item. Martial arts frequently had large amounts of weapons training, and I prefer my monks to be less terrible 70's pajama dudes, and more wushu/wuxia style heroes.
Monks replaced unarmed damage with "monk damage," as it applies to their monk weapons as well as their unarmed fightan. It does not apply to non-monk weapons. I've never once hit a balance problem with this, as it allows monks to be cool either when they fight unarmed or when they fight with a weapon. Furthermore, it negates any bonus of taking a stupid or rediculously powerful base weapon as their monk weapon as was listed above, as the damage will be replaced. If a player wants to be an unarmed badass who roams the lands and...
I like the principle, me and Jatori discussed this before; but in our tests we found that the critical multiplier is something to watch out for; i.e. I'd caveat this that with the monk damage comes the monk critical, which is based on 20/x2. Otherwise it isn't hard to imagine a monk wielding a 2d6 scythe while applying flurry - gaining not only much better base damage, but also incredibly high critical damage rolls. Naturally on a weapon that is much cheaper to enhance than the raw fists of the monk. I would frown upon that use of the flurry/weapon.
A "good" use of the mechanic you propose, is using a weapon such as a longspear to make near-and-reach flurries possible in combination with unarmed strikes.
Something we've done in our PF game is this.
Note: The “special monk weapons” listed in the Pathfinder rules are hereby abolished. The kama is simply a sickle; it is a simple weapon. Treat sai as daggers that deal bludgeoning damage. Treat the siangham as a shortspear, and treat shuriken as darts. The nunchaku is a light flail.Then we allowed Flurry to be used with any weapon the Monk is proficient with. These changes solve the problem of monks finding magical monk weapons, and allow some benefits to multiclassing or taking weapon proficiency feats. We also use the half level to damage with weapons. Kirth is oldschool like that. :)
Hey, as long as you don't apply old school rules to the "Kensai" base class there's nothing to worry about.
Monks can choose a single weapon - ANY weapon - and they not only gain proficiency with it, it becomes a monk item. Martial arts frequently had large amounts of weapons training, and I prefer my monks to be less terrible 70's pajama dudes, and more wushu/wuxia style heroes.
Monks replaced unarmed damage with "monk damage," as it applies to their monk weapons as well as their unarmed fightan. It does not apply to non-monk weapons. I've never once hit a balance problem with this, as it allows monks to be cool either when they fight unarmed or when they fight with a weapon. Furthermore, it negates any bonus of taking a stupid or rediculously powerful base weapon as their monk weapon as was listed above, as the damage will be replaced. If a player wants to be an unarmed badass who roams the lands and...
I like the principle, me and Jatori discussed this before; but in our tests we found that the critical multiplier is something to watch out for; i.e. I'd caveat this that with the monk damage comes the monk critical, which is based on 20/x2. Otherwise it isn't hard to imagine a monk wielding a 2d6 scythe while applying flurry - gaining not only much better base damage, but also incredibly high critical damage rolls. Naturally on a weapon that is much cheaper to enhance than the raw fists of the monk. I would frown upon that use of the flurry/weapon.
A "good" use of the mechanic you propose, is using a weapon such as a longspear to make near-and-reach flurries possible in combination with unarmed strikes.
Actually, we drastically altered how enchanting weapons work. Essentially, everyone gets craft magic weapons and armor, but instead of crafting it, they enchant themselves. Then, on any masterwork weapon or armor, they can utilize that enchantment. So a fighter with +1 flaming gains +1 flaming on any masterwork weapon he uses. However, this only works on masterwork weapons - not common ones.
In other words, for the monk (who's body is always considered masterwork), he's never unarmed or disenchanted. But, he can wield a monk weapon if he so desires. Yes, the monk can theoretically gain an increased crit chance with their weapon, or slightly better tripping, or reach, or etc. But I've never seen the monk as someone who's pigeonholed into just punching dudes. For me, the monk is less 70's terrible yellow-faced kung fu movies, more wushu. The fighter is the armored and legendary warrior. The monk is the unarmored martial artist - and martial arts very much includes weapons. But beyond that, the enchanting thing is great for the monk. Like I said, he's never unarmed - even if stripped of his belongings and put into a jail cell, the monk is - and, quite frankly, should - still be incredibly dangerous, perhaps moreso then any other character. With sneak and acrobatics and such, the monk is MEANT to be a very mobile and potentially sneaky unarmed assassin type. This lets them actually do that.
Besides that, even with the better criticals, I've yet to see the monk become "overpowered" or indeed more powerful then the fighter because of this. It just lets the people who play monk feel less terrible and more awesome. When your houserule makes things more balanced AND lets players feel more awesome? It's a good houserule.
Hey, as long as you don't apply old school rules to the "Kensai" base class there's nothing to worry about.Sorry, I'm a newb and don't get it. Started playing with 3.5. :)
So did I but I do my research.
Think of the Kensai Prestige Class. It was originally a kit for the Fighter that let you pick one weapon, and any weapon of that type you used was treated as a +3 weapon. It had slower XP gain, sure, but a +3 is pretty much the best weapon in AD&D aside from specific weapons. And you get this from first level on.
That's like stating off with a +7 to hit and damage in Pathfinder.
Yes, finally I can have a monk that crits on 15-20 (keen rapier), gets cheap enhancement costs on the item, and still deals nice high unarmed damage dice on it.
You have a point. :D
|
|
Something that came to mind was the twin hook swords used in the Deadliest Warrior Shaolin Monk vs. Maori Warrior. They were two swords that had a "shepherd's hook" style end on each. They could be used independently or the hooks could be linked together allowing for reach. Seems appropriate for the monk what with them being RL monk weapons. Just a thought :D
Something that came to mind was the twin hook swords used in the Deadliest Warrior Shaolin Monk vs. Maori Warrior. They were two swords that had a "shepherd's hook" style end on each. They could be used independently or the hooks could be linked together allowing for reach. Seems appropriate for the monk what with them being RL monk weapons. Just a thought :D
I had always wanted to use those as a Monk and a few months back someone told me they were in an eberron book and another book as well (I think). Since then I've been dying to try a Monk using them.
Something that came to mind was the twin hook swords used in the Deadliest Warrior Shaolin Monk vs. Maori Warrior. They were two swords that had a "shepherd's hook" style end on each. They could be used independently or the hooks could be linked together allowing for reach. Seems appropriate for the monk what with them being RL monk weapons. Just a thought :DI had always wanted to use those as a Monk and a few months back someone told me they were in an eberron book and another book as well (I think). Since then I've been dying to try a Monk using them.
Hook Swords are available, as well as a number of other monk weapons, in Luven Lightfinger's Gear & Treasure Shop.
I think they're in Secrets of Sarlona, too, which has the added benefit of not being third party.
In addition to the changes TOZ alluded to, we've folded flurrying into the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. If you can increase the number of options while reducing the number of rules, I'm usually all for it.
New text is in italics. This should allow a monk to use any weapon in a Flurry of Blows as long as it has the Ki-Focus enhancement and the monk has taken Weapon Focus (WeaponType) in that weapon's type. This would also allow a monk to use a natural attack if they have an Amulet of Mighty Fists, Ki-Focus and have taken the Weapon Focus (NaturalAttackType) Feat (ie: Weapon Focus <Claws>).
I like the intent, but it means that for a non-monk weapon, you need two feats to do this - one for poficiency in the weapon and the other for weapon focus. Then you have to pay for an extra +1 bonus equivelant on top. That's a lot to invest for just gaining one weapon. Can I suggest just having proficiency with the weapon rather than weapon focus?
It'll be interesting to see what new options they have for Monks in the Advanced Players Guide when it comes out.
I'm hoping for a single feat. This feat would allow a Monk proficiency with and to flurry with any simple melee weapon + darts. That opens ups a Monk's options quite a bit. Most of the simple weapons are already on a Monk's base weapon list, the addition of weapons like maces just allows for a wider flavor of monks. (Want to be a "Friar" type monk that flurries with a Morningstar?)
Edit: This option would allow me to play an Escrima style Monk with clubs.
For further options they could have another feat that lets you pick up any single proficient Martial or Exotic weapon to flurry with.
I didn't see any mention of this yet(quick glance), but there are quite a few monk weapons in...
Pathfinder Companion: Adventurer's Armory (PFRPG)
Two that I noticed in particular were a huge community request... Cestus & Rope Gauntlets. (aka handwraps for magic'ing-up)
The Cestus also makes a Duelist Monk a much more potent idea.