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?
I never really like the idea of using two stat bonuses calculating your entire AC in 5e. It’s a holdover from earlier editions, when getting stat boosts through stacking bonuses from magic items, spells, and potions would allow for very high scaling.
There’s a clear direction from all the rewritten subclasses, in that each one contains a method of either pushing away your target when you hit them in a variety of ways, or providing clear ways of disengaging from melee. Maybe this should just be placed in the base class, that 1/turn any Monk gets to push a target away that is struck with an unarmed attack, like the ‘Shove’ feature of the Tavern Brawler feat? Or maybe just giving Monk the ‘shove’ weapon mastery to all unarmed attacks, and the Monk gets to add other specific masteries as they level up?