Editing Monk (section)

== [[Pathfinder]] ==
[[File:Sajan 2e.png|thumb|right|300px|Sajan, Pathfinder's iconic Monk]]
Got a number of buffs and tricks to try to avoid some of the problems listed above, can now equip Cestus weapons to add magical effects to their fists (while the ''Martial Arts Handbook'' adds in Handwraps... which are pretty much cosmetic, except for Masterwork version, at which point they totally enchantable, but they don't count as a weapon like the Cestus), and they can get a positively retarded amount of attacks, though their MAD issues are still... well, ''less'' of an issue, but still present. They get animal fighting styles ranging from classical, historical ones such as tiger and mantis (if you want to stun, mute, knock down, nauseate, and blind someone with one hit), to djinni, kobold and even stranger things; lots of weird Chinese weapons such as monk's spades, nine section whips and so on; "vows", which are self-imposed conditions as never talking or try to solve everything peacefully and fight defensively [[Paladin|or tell only the truth]], and if you do not break'em you gain bonus Ki points (Pro Tip: it is explicitly stated that the Vow of No Lying and Vow of No Talking DON'T contradict each other, so if you aren't the Party's Face... Oh, and it's doesn't say anything about hand gestures or writing).

On their own a Monk still struggles to escape tier 5, but thanks to their wide variety of completely separate class features to trade away, they have the widest variety of archetypes in the game. These can either make them into "single class multiclasses" (the sensei is a monk with bardic performances, the qiggong monk can duplicate the effect of spells burning ki points, the sohei is essentially a monk-fighter-ranger-whatever, he is on horseback mostly), which is in line with the "20 level in a single class" Paizo policy, or are awesome and hilarious (the drunken monk generates ki points from alcohol, the tetori is a [[Los Tiburon]] kind of wrestler, the scaled fist becomes cha-dependent and starts emulating dragon stuff). Most of the good ones are comfortably tier 4, but several (or combinations of them. Quingong combines with almost anything.) are potent enough to reach tier 3. 

Zen Archer is notable for not just being competent at their intended role, but being one of the ''better'' archer classes in the game. They get to add their wisdom to hitting with their bow (so they only need enough dex to qualify for feats, generally only 13), effectively have full BAB when using a bow and get most of the important archery feats for free. On top of this they have an innate way of dealing with anyone who gets close (they can still kick things). It still struggles to do much outside of combat, but stacking Qingong fixes that. It has the unusual option of multiclassing with [[Sorcerer]] and entering Arcane Archer.

Still, the best way to play a monk is to ''not'' play a monk. The Sacred Fist [[Warpriest]] archetype combines a monk's hand-to-hand abilities with clerical magic, thereby eating the monk's lunch in its own niche.

If, for some insane reason, you want to play a Medieval European "monk", that's a [[Cleric]] archetype called the Cloistered Cleric, which trades a buttload of spellcasting and combat prowess for extra prowess as a knowledge skill monkey (and therefore, is useless).

===Unchained===
''Pathfinder Unchained'' included a rework of the monk class, known as the Unchained Monk. While this is a serious improvement on the class and brings them up to tier 4, it isn't compatible with most of the older archetypes due to how substantial its changes were. That said, however, it has seen its fair share of archetypes following their release, showing that Paizo doesn't view it as such a complete mistake like the unchained [[barbarian]], but not a necessity like the unchained [[summoner]].

The differences between the two variants are as follows:
*The U-Monk has a full BAB progression as opposed to the core monk's 3/4 BAB
*The U-Monk loses Will as a good save, meaning it no longer has good progression in all saves
*Flurry of Blows only grants the U-Monk one extra attack at their highest BAB as opposed to multiple attacks at a lower BAB than usual. Both still need a full action to use it.
*Every 2 levels after level 4 the U-Monk can select a ki power, which allows them to either take the core monk's abilities or take various other not-quite-magical powers...or take powers from the qigong monk without needing the archetype.
*Every 5 levels the U-Monk gets style strikes, unique attacks they can blend into one hit of their Flurry.

===Second Edition===
Remembering the mistakes of old, the first thing Second Edition does to help the Monk is remove the excessive MAD. Wisdom is less necessary for the class, as it's only required for saves on Ki Powers if you use those and for Will (although Wisdom also governs Initiative in this edition, making it more generally worthwhile to everyone), and has Expert proficiency on Unarmored Defense and on all saving throws - which no other class gets - though their unarmed strikes are only at Trained. Alongside the other classic features (Speed, proficiency improvements, Punch upgrades), you also get the ability to upgrade whichever saves you want, though you can't upgrade all three of them to Master rank.

Class Feats for the Monk find themselves either focusing on stances (each now granting a unique unarmed attack) and Ki powers (Which are essentially identical aside from not being mandatory) alongside the other fare of various monk feats. Particularly troubling is that without taking a certain feat at level 1, they are unable to use any of the fancy monk weapons without issue (and as of the APG, another feat permits access to some bows so you can totally be a Zen Archer letting you do Flurry and Ki Strike with your arrows). Another issue is that if you want to focus on ki powers, you 100% NEED to take one of the first-level feats in order to open access to any later ones, and the option feels a bit one-sided when one of them adds typed damage to your punch while the other...makes you move twice in an action.  The reworking of magic items (including NOT making armbands of shielding because there's the option to put magical armor runes on what amounts to clothes) does seriously help mitigate the issues with item space.

Curiously, the monk also has technically two multiclass options: The base one, and the Advanced Player's Guide '''Martial Artist''' archetype, which pretty much exclusively permits you to get the better fists (though no counts-as-metal shit) and the mundane stances without wasting time with the other stuff or worrying about level restrictions that apply with multiclassing. Another strange archetype is the '''Bullet Dancer''' from Guns & Gears, which introduces a stance made for firearms. While funny in concept, the archetype provides no additional proficiency in firearms, and this limits you to mostly pistols and old-fashioned rifles.