So I tell my players, nothing that isn't in the core rulebook. Nothing super weird. In this setting, magic is rare and subtle. Oh. And no monks.
Of course, one of them comes to me and says "I want to play a monk."
"Sorry, no monks."
"I don't mean that I want to play and Eastern martial artist, more like an actual monk. A European holy man. Like the medieval flagellants during the Black Plague."
"Oh, that's awesome! That's a really cool concept. I'm sure we can rework the cleric into something suitable."
"Well... I really want to use the monk class."
"But I said no monks."
"Right. He won't be like a regular monk. He's going to be a real monk. But I'm going to use the rules for the monk."
So...anyway. Here's what I've got so far:
Hit Die: d12
Good saves: Fortitude and Will
Proficiencies: light flail, heavy flail, and whip. This replaces proficiency with weapons that have the Monk special quality.
Harm's Way (Ex): at 2nd level, a flagellant may force an attack roll made against an ally adjacent to him to be resolved against him instead. The flagellent must be aware of the attacker to use this ability, and no more than one per round. This ability replaces Evasion
Weight of Sin (Ex): at 4th level, a flagellent gains DR1/-- as long as he is carrying a medium or heavy load. This increases to DR2/-- at 9th level, DR3/-- at 12th, DR4/-- at 15th and DR5/-- at 18th.
Greater Harm's Way (Ex): at 9th level, a flagellant may choose to automatically fail a Reflex save to grant an adjacent ally a bonus to their Reflex save equal to the flagellant's Wisdom modifier as well as the Evasion special ability. This lasts for one turn. This ability replaces Improved Evasion.
Instead of a Ki pool and powers, I'm currently thinking that he'll use hit points to fuel similar abilities. Some abilities could have a flat cost, others scale with level, some take the form of bleed damage, and a few could be static bonuses that apply as long as he is not at full hit points.
That stuff won't come up for a while yet, though. And I simply don't have the time for this hobby like I used to.
My main concern with all of this is that he lacks the monks mobility, and therefore the option to pick his fights as effectively. He's tougher, but he's also injuring himself.
Anyway, what do you think?
To start with I would suggest looking at brawler or warpriest as alternatives. Thematically, they would both work with a European medieval setting. Brawler is basically the non-monk monk class, trading out all of the ki stuff for fighter things, while keeping the fistycuffs aspect. Warpriest is basically a cleric who has traded out half their spells and a portion of their domain powers for fighter things. A warpriest could pick a flail or whip as their sacred weapon even if it's not the deity's favored weapon. I think warpriest would thematically fit better with the concept presented by the player, but depending on why they want to play a monk the player may be happier playing a brawler.
As for what you've suggested. It seems fine but I would be extremely wary of using HP in place of Ki points. If he gets his hands on anything that grants fast healing or regeneration then he would effectively be able to use all of his "ki powers" at will.
Edit: I had another thought, since you're trying to stay in the CRB have them play a cleric. Depending on what domains and/or feats they take you should be able to have something that fits thematically. It may go over with the rest of the group better then having them show up and see a player is playing a character that looks like something you told everyone else wasn't allowed.
Yes, I suggested the cleric. As he is, in fact, a holy man. But the player was just dead-set on someone who was good at punching; he said he really liked the idea that the self-mutilation and such had harden the character's body, etc.
I am not familiar with the warpriest, but I much prefer making minor adjustments of things in the main book than bringing in extra stuff. Plus, he's set on this unarmed combat thing, and I'm pretty firm in my stance that you can't be a penitent priest and also wear armor. The Brawler...I just don't like them. I see what they're trying to do, and I like it, but it's weird and needlessly complicated.
But yes, I had assumed he wanted to play a cleric.
As for fast healing and regeneration, I feel like those are suitably rare and difficult to obtain. I don't really offer players much in the way of magic item shopping and such, anyway. Though that does bring up an interesting point about using these abilities in non-combat situations, where he suddenly has a pool many multitudes larger than he should. Definitely worth thinking about, yeah.
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There's a (hobgoblin only) monk archetype called "Ironskin Monk" that you may be able to use/augment that? Here it is!
It gets natural armor, DR, etc. as well as bonuses on sundering etc. things- maybe a good jumping off point!