Helping a player Choose unchained or archetyped monk

[GM and the Holograms]

A player of mine wants to build a monk. They are planning unchained monk because it's easier, but they are really interested in monk of the empty hand.

I'm running a 25pt buy with some eliminated feat taxes, most importantly they just get weapon finesse and agile maneuvers for free,as well as power attack. I know this would help with being MAD and get builds off the ground faster, but would it be enough to make vanilla monk of the enmity hand strong viable? I know vanilla flurry would still be more complicated and less powerful, but if that's the only issue we may be able to work around it.

[Dilvias]

Since this is a home game, I'd just let them take the archetype on the unchained monk. Move Versatile Improvisation to 4th and the archetype replaces Purity of body and their 4th and either 10th or 12 Ki power (when you want them to get the ability to enhance the improvised weapon). That way they get to keep still mind, more important for unchained monks since they don't have good will saves.

[PossibleCabbage]

It's pretty easy to homebrew unchained versions of monk archetypes, by just looking at what they replace and instead replacing the first instance of a choice the unchained monk can make to select that power (so, for example instead of replacing "slow fall" you replace the 4th level ki power for the Unchained Monk since they could take Slow Fall there.)

The only archetypes for which you probably would not want to do this (or at least be very careful) are: Zen Archer, Tetori, Sohei, Sensei, and Nornkith.

[GM and the Holograms]

Thanks for the advice,I was considering that, but wanted to see what people thought about using vanilla plus archetype first

[Mysterious Stranger]

PossibleCabbage wrote:

It's pretty easy to homebrew unchained versions of monk archetypes, by just looking at what they replace and instead replacing the first instance of a choice the unchained monk can make to select that power (so, for example instead of replacing "slow fall" you replace the 4th level ki power for the Unchained Monk since they could take Slow Fall there.)

The only archetypes for which you probably would not want to do this (or at least be very careful) are: Zen Archer, Tetori, Sohei, Sensei, and Nornkith.

Actually there is a third party version for the Unchained Zen Archer.

[PossibleCabbage]

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

Actually there is a third party version for the Unchained Zen Archer.

I mentioned those archetypes not because they are difficult to adapt to work for the Unchained Monk, but because they are already powerful archetypes when attached to the weaker core monk chassis, and pinning them to the Unchained Monk (which is generally an uprgrade.) It's the same reason there isn't an official unchained ninja- the Ninja alternate class already fixes the power level of the rogue.

So if you're making, say, an unchained Sohei, you might end up with something that is too good for whatever value of "too good" applies to martials.