During my time on the boards, I've seen a lot of discussion about the problems with the monk (right alongside the rogue and fighter) and I've seen many proposed fixes. Here are some of my own that I'm considering implementing as part of my house rules. Feedback is strongly encouraged if you have a spare moment (as far as balance goes, I'm thinking of increasing the power and versatility of the fighter and rogue, but likely not others). :)
One criticism of the monk that has stuck with me for a long time has been the notion that the class suffers from claiming that it's a highly mobile melee combatant, but that its main source of damage output, flurry of blows, requires the character to remain stationary. Another criticism is that the class suffers from MAD and the investment is WIS isn't as valuable as it is to invest in STR or DEX. The additions below attempt to mitigate, if not completely nullify, both of these major drawbacks.
Mind Over Matter (Ex): When rolling the Hit Die at 1st level and each new monk level thereafter, a monk may use his Wisdom modifier to calculate bonus hit points instead of his Constitution modifier.
Ki Pool (Su): In addition to the other benefits provided by this class feature, by spending 1 point from his ki pool, a monk’s unarmed attacks can ignore a number of points of hardness equal to his monk level for 1 round.
Purity of Body (Ex): In addition to the other benefits provided by this class feature, a monk may use his Wisdom modifier when making Fortitude saving throws instead of his Constitution modifier.
Swift Step (Ex): Starting at 5th level, a monk may move up to 10 feet when making a 5-foot step. This distance increases to 15 feet at 10th level, 20 feet at 15th level, and 30 feet at 20th level.
some of this were things ive considered as well(especially the wis replacing con) I think the monk should be able to bypass DR with it as well. its a more subtle change for sure, but easier to work with because of it.
Looks OK. Not going to break anything, and effectively another 4 chargen points or thereabouts.
Swift Step is an interesting one, and a good way to get some value out of Flurry. You might alter it to taking additional 5' steps per round rather than one big one, adding a bit of flexibility. And the extras could be in addition to Move actions.
Using Wis for HP (to me anyways) is like allowing a different ability score for skill points. I see monks as warriors who should be avoiding blows, not acting like pin cushions.
I like the new use of Ki.
Also a thumbs down to adding Wis to Fortitude. Monks already have three good saves, and don't suffer in that department. I wouldn't be opposed to an option to spend a point of Ki to make a Will save in place of Fortitude or Reflex.
I would prefer something like this available to high BAB warriors in general, not specifically monks.
No, Ciaran, he's using Wisdom in place of Constitution for Fort save.
I understood that, but mispoke myself. My opinion stands.