Interesting. Dotting for later.
definitely an interesting take on an armored monk.
I like the fluff here, but I have a lot of issues with the crunch.
1. Pressure Attunement - First off, number of Flurry attacks get reduced equal to armor check... let's look at some check penalties:
-light armors have -1 and the chainshirt (with the highest base AC) is -2.
-medium armors have at least -4 if you want a high base AC than a chainshirt and go up to -6.
-Full plate, the standard heavy armor everyone uses, has a check of -6.
Even at 18th level when the Monk has the check penalty reduced by 3, it never overcomes the penalties for Medium and doesn't even come close for Heavy, though I suppose Mithril could be your best friend here. I don't see any benefit here; out of all the issues with Monk no one ever argued that they had weak defenses.
2. Ki Pool - you don't get any extra Ki and now the cost of all your ki powers have double cost. You only get 1/2+Wis mod for ki, so now you get a whole lot less out of that pool. The three new powers that cost 3 ki don't seem worth it either. 40 speed isn't worth 3 ki and +4 to natural armor is strictly worse than paying 2 ki to get the +4 dodge bonus to natural armor. 1/2 your level in fire resistance for one round is hardly worth it at 3 ki either (plus you'd think a Volcanic Acolye would already have some resistance by default, based on the name). The extra damage one could have been nice; essentially all your unarmed strikes have an Empower metamagic on them and the extra damage is fire. I like that, but again I don't like the 3 ki cost which makes it so I could only do it a few times per day, and that's if I spent ki on literally nothing else.
3. Volcanic Burst - wow is this powerful. Too bad it comes in at 8th and works once per day. This ability is really the only benefit I've seen to using this archetype. I do find it amusing though that the monk has to throw off his armor to actually do something useful. I think an ability like this would be better if toned down a little and perhaps a signature ability that could be used more times per day (and earlier).
There's still the issue of throwing off the armor which could be headache if you're in an area where it's likely to fall into a pit go overboard...
4. Control Flow - ok so now you finally get a way to overcome more of that armor check that wrecks your Flurry's world. At 17th. And he can't usually use it for his own probably heavily enchanted armor he has by now, so he probably wouldn't use it anyway.
5. Volcano Incarnate - This is pretty weak as well. He can use those 3 cost ki powers of dubious worth and gets 10 fire resistance, otherwise known as 5 more than what quite a few races get by default or a second level spell (Resist Energy) cast by someone with a caster level below 7 (because at 7th that spell would give 20 resistance). And it's a capstone. I'd at least give him immunity at this point.
I like the idea behind what you have here, but I really think it does need some work.
Flavorwise, I find it outstanding.
As far as the abilities go...
Pressure Attunement - Is the min for the minimum number of attacks he can get from flurry, or the minimum decrease in number of attacks? Other than that, I have slightly the same mindset on this as chaoseffect, although depending on what your min meant, could be less degrading to the monk.
Ki Pool - I can understand it making the ki cost more for the normal actions from a flavor perspective, but it is a tad strong of a downside. I would say simply increase the cost of all other ki abilities by 1 ki point other than the three you gain by being a Volcanic Acolyte. As for the additional ki abilities, the each unarmed strike dealing fire damage I believe is costed appropriately. The other 2 I would say could be lowered to 2 ki, unless you combine the AC and fire resistance effects as one action.
Volcanic Burst - If I ever see someone using this archtype, I'm going to have to call him a hot streaker when he uses this. A VERY interesting ability to say the least. Powerful, but also has a potentially considerable drawback. I like it.
Control Flow - Instead of making it simulate a specific type of armor, which excludes magical armors that you may have picked up, why not have control flow be a free action ki power that adds +3 to max dex bonus and -3 to armor check penalty for one round at the cost of 1 ki? Naturally, you would want to include in the Ki Pool descriptor that the additional ki point costs exclude the ki powers specifically for Volcanic Acolyte, as well as Control Flow in this case.
Volcano Incarnate - I second Chaoseffect's remarks. You already have a built in way within the archtype to gain that much fire resistance. In addition, if you took this archtype, you would likely be wanting to wear armor in the first place, which is what pressure atonement is about, thus your likely going to have the availability of those ki powers already. I would say a better capstone would be immunity to fire (after all, its volcano incarnate), and perhaps adding the ability of whenever he hits with an unarmed strike, he sets the target he hits on fire or something else along those lines. Simply put, as of currently, is a pretty weak capstone.
Admittingly, when creating custom material, it is better to lean on the side of caution and not to make something too powerful. In that respect, I would say what you've done is very commendable. Keep up the good work!
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Giving a natural armor bonus makes more sense yto me. You could then reduce the natural armor to use lava abilities and the natural armor would return over time similarto the heating and cooling effects of volcanoes and the surounding rock. I think this mechanic could have some cool effects. Instead of the ac bonus and ki you could give a natural ac bonus that decreases when ki powers are used. So the monk has to decide how much "lava" he wants to use. I see all kinds of cool abilities using this mechanic instead and i think flavorwise it fits better.
Yeah, post them.