So Monk is the one class we didn’t get a prior UA for, which means all the changes are totally new. I’m still wrapping my head around it. Martial Arts die increase: good. Martial Arts die not affecting weapons: bad. Step of the Wind buff: good. Stunning Strike nerf: bad but reasonable?
I feel like they knew Monks needed help, but it doesn’t really seem like they made as much effort to fix that as I think they really needed to. Anything I might be missing that saves the Class here?
Yes, it is a dilemma. Though, a lot of monk features still focus on unarmed attacks, either as a trigger (empowered strike, elemental attunement) or an effect (bonus attack, FoB, improved shadow step, environmental burst…), so they are not going to vanish from play.
Maybe if they made is clear that the the martial arts die may replace all of a weapons damage dice it would be less abusable. Then again, Fighters can get 4 attacks with a flame tongue greatsword, and then action surge. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Maybe it is just an experiment, or maybe they are holding it back as a Kensai subclass feature.
I like a monk with crowd control options so in general I like the idea of the prone and push options. Just needs to figure how it plays at the table if it’s worth the drop in damage