I have a ton of compliants about the monk...

Comparing them to a rogue, who is primary DEX and sometimes will commit some ability scores to either INT or CHA (but doesn't need it at all)... Rogues don't expened resources to be effective...

If you were to replace monk's WIS requirements with DEX instead and make them a SAD DEX character instead of a MAD DEX/WIS character and remove Ki, you're looking at class that can now keep up with rogues and fighters.

Unarmored Defense could easily be DEX + CON (or even 2x DEX) instead of DEX + WIS. The Ki save could be 8 + PB + DEX (instead of WIS), as this stays in line with the Battlemaster Fighter who scales of STR or DEX.

You may want to limit Stunning Strike to say proficiency bonus (or 2/5 + PB) per long rest. The biggest problem with Stunning Strike is that most meaningful enemies will be immune to stuns, have legendary resistances, or both.

Let's talk about the monk's Flurry of Blows.

At level one with a quarterstaff or spear, it's 1d6 + 1d4 + 1d4 (3.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 = 8.5). A fighter (Greatsword) is 2d6 (7) or a barbarian with a Greataxe 1d12 (6.5) or two handaxe (1d6 + 1d6 = 7).

Removing Ki costs from Flurry of Blows, Monks are ahead of Fighters and Barbarians early on. Things start to fall apart for the Monk as magical weapons are added to the game. Fighters scale with weapons like Flame Tongue.

The monk doesn't really scale with magical items. Eldritch Claw Tattoo changes that a bit, especially with Eldritch Maul... but a monk is highly discouraged to use a melee weapon past level 4 because their Martial Arts dice catch up to the damage they'd do with weapons.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/4dumif/handling_monk_stun_spam_without_specifically/ https://www.enworld.org/threads/no-monsters-immune-to-stun.533695/page-4 https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/83l4nh/stunning_strike_is_the_bane_of_my_existence_as_a/

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ContractualBossImmunity https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/297105-Why-are-bosses-immune-to-stun?s=e458458886f5c72c18d800805a11fa5d https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/6xg8nt/monk_stun_and_the_ability_to_stun_lock_enemies/

"There's a lot of really stupid OP stuff in class features, I agree.

However, as DM, you have the power of IMAGINATION (spongebob.jpg). There is tons of balancing you can do.

Just one example: Add a "Healer" mob that can cure his boss' status effects. Then, have a Caster mob who is spamming twinned disintegration rays or chain lightning or fireballs. Or have 2 wizards, 1 who puts the Monk in a Wall of Force/Wall of Stone/Force Cage, and the other who blasts everyone. Now the party wizards have to use their turns to help the monk.

Then have 1-3 brute gorilla mobs to distract beat the heck out of the party's monks and fighters.

Or, give the boss a "Energy Shield" that absorbs damage and any status effect = 20 hp dmg.

Then, have the main boss focus on buffing/protecting himself until the party has dealt with most of his minions, then he can step into the main fray.

Now the players have to decide who to stun."

"There are a couple of different ways to handle Stunning Strike:

Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Have multiple threats present so the party can't easily focus down one guy and just win the combat.

Deplete the monk's resources. Have the epic fight be at the end of several smaller encounters designed to force the party to burn resources. Even if the monk stuns the boss, it'll be more epic with 2-3 Ki points remaining as opposed to 6-7.

Stay at range. Stunning Strike requires the monk to be in melee range. The BBEG should be smart enough at the end of a campaign to know the party's general tactics and will have a way to deal with it. Even just adding more ranged enemies can hurt the monk's tactics.

Buff up CON. You can always increase the boss's Con stat or give them proficiency or something to help out with the saving throw against the stun. This can even be done with a magic item the boss has, which would make for a cool piece of loot potentially.

Hopefully this helps!"

"I'm currently playing a Monk going through Storm Kings Thunder and I can vouch for numbers 2) and 4) in Falcocreed's list (those hill giants have been beating my sav DC of 16 pretty consistently)

May I also recommend

5. using monsters that hurt you for hitting them whether they're stunned or not. E.G. Azers deal 1d10 fire damage per mele hit (and have +4 to con saves) You could also use a Black Pudding or a Remorhaz etc"