Monks Are Just Awful. No Really. Ok Fine. They’re Only Terrible From Levels 2-16.

Modify the Monk rules on p78 in the Player's Handbook as follows:
Replace the 3rd bullet point under Martial Arts with:

• You may use unarmed strikes in conjunction with the Two-Weapon Fighting attack action and similar features, and are always considered to be equipped with two qualifying weapons, regardless of whether your hands are empty or full. You may add your ability score modifier to the damage of these attacks.

Replace the first paragraph under the header Ki with:

Starting at 2nd level, your training allows you to harness the mystic energy of ki. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of ki points. You have a number of Ki points equal to your monk level plus your wisdom modifier (Minimum +0).

There are DOZENS of house-ruled changes I’d like to make to Monks in order to make them not awful, and I’ve actually researched and written them at length. If you want to play a monk in this campaign, please talk to me, and we’ll dig deeper. But for an initial band-aid without going tooooo deep or complex into it, this should accomplish the lion’s share of the class’s need. Rolling the martial arts bonus action unarmed strike attack into the action by utilizing the changes to two-weapon fighting rules simultaneously frees up a bonus action for the already action-starved Monk, and prevents a level 1 monk from making 3 attacks per round, which is admittedly a bit unreasonable. These changes also qualifies the monk to make use of the Dual Wielder feat, likely the only WotC official feat that could now provide any damage benefit to a monk without awkward counterproductive sacrifices. While Monks are typically flush with the short-rest-regenerating Ki points by the time they reach tier 3 play, in the early-game, a monk is absolutely starved for them, easily finding themselves empty of Ki and effectively unable to use any of their class features after a single round of combat, much less a full encounter. Adding additional Ki based on the Wisdom Bonus adds value to the stat, and the already Multiple Abilityscore Dependent Monk, shores up this deficiency early without tipping the scales too far in the opposite direction or requiring a full mechanic overhaul.