Possible monk houserule tweaks

[tadrinth]

A newly-formed gaming group started a Pathfinder campaign a few weeks ago, with a friend DMing and myself as a monk. We both have a couple of pet peeves with the monk class and he's been working on ways to house-rule them away. To limit power levels, he's banned prestige classes, paladins, and wizards, as well as requiring his approval for anything non-Core. We also have a number of new players that aren't very munchkinly, plus an experienced druid.

According to the DPR Olympics thread, Monks seem to have both damage and survivability issues. Comparing a level 10 Monk to a level 10 fighter for average damage (for reference, this is Melvin 1.2.2):
The fighter has 25 AC, full attacks for 60 damage, and single attacks for 35.
The monk has 22 AC, full attacks for 39, 50 with ki, and single attacks for 12.

First houseule is that he's allowing the use of Brass Knuckles from the APG, which allows an enchanted weapon that deals monk unarmed damage. This solves the issues with permanent magic fangs being dispelled and with Amulets of the Mighty Fists being hideously expensive, though I'm still hoping to get him to retcon the brass knuckles into hand-slot tattoos with the same effect (Rule of Awesome). This increases damage to 43 (56 with ki), by replacing +3 nunchuks with +3 knuckles which do 1d10 instead of 1d6. He was considering also allowing me to Stunning Fist with the knuckles without needing them to have the Ki Focus enhancement.

To help out with damage issues (and because the DM used to play a Warforged Monk that dealt damage as if he was Huge), the DM has house-ruled that Improved Natural Attack is allowed for monks, even though he knows they specifically errata'd it to not work. At level 10, that boosts damage from 1d10 to 2d8, and avg dmg to 50 (65 with ki).

Those changes combine to allow a monk to deal a little bit more damage than a comparable warrior if he burns Ki to do so, while being slightly squishier due to lower HP and AC. Without Ki he does less damage and if he single attacks his damage is horrible.

The DM has ruled that grapple is useable on a charge because it makes sense. Trip isn't unless you have Improved Trip.

The DM has a major pet peeve with the fact that Flurry of Blows and Fast Movement can't be used at the same time, and is debating the following options:

Option 1 (his idea): You can Flurry of Blows as a standard action, but you either take an extra -2 to hit or you have to use the Monk 3/4th BAB instead of your level, he hasn't decided. This seems awkward and conducive to missing a lot.

Option 2 (my idea): A monk's 5' step is increased in distance by half his Fast Movement distance. IE, a level 3 monk can do a 10' step with the same properties, and a level 20 monk can do a 35' step. This allows better agility and repositioning while still being able to Flurry, and fits the idea of a very mobile fighter well. I stole this from 4th Ed, where monks can shift as a minor action. This is his current plan (we're playtesting it).

Any thoughts and suggestions?

[Chris P. Bacon]

I would be okay with everything to the two options at the end regarding repositioning and full attacks. That is going waaay too far, IMHO.

I don't think it's justified to look at two classes and compare them only in terms of theoretical DPS, as though that is the only measure of a character. Monks have a lot more going for them than pure damage, and it's a waste to think of them in only that context.

The one problem I've encountered with monks is the amulet of mighty fists. In my game I've included monk's tatoos, which either take up a slot of your choice (limited to body, chest, hands, feet, or head; a more lenient GM might allow the armor slot, since it's probably vacant), or that are spread out over the entire body, which doesn't use up a slot at all. The base price is 2,000 gp, plus the cost of enchantment; enchantment costs are doubled if you chose not to take up a slot. On the upside, you can't really be disarmed of your tattoos.. on the downside, you can't have more than one tattoo (though you can add enchantments later), so you're stuck with what you choose. (I also wrote up an archetype for a tatooed monk who has some abilities related to magic tattoos, but that's neither here nor there.)

Otherwise, I think they're okay as-is. They aren't meant to replace a fighter on the front lines, they're meant to complement one, so it's fruitless to compare them in simple terms.

EDIT: I should mention specifically that I'm okay with grappling on a charge. It makes sense, and it doesn't seem unbalanced: the +2 to CMB is balanced by the -2 to CMD. On a related note, I'm always disappointed that you can't trip/bodyslam someone during a grapple. This seems like grappling 101, but I guess it would give grapplers even more of an edge, which they don't need. There may be room for a proper Reaping Mauler PrC, or maybe a fighter or monk archetype..