QUOTE (Evilness45 @ May 4 2010, 05:40 PM)
I'll leave the alignment restriction. However, I'm rather "broad" on my interpretation of alignment to begin with.
Just remember that Lawful != follows laws.
Also, I thought there were gloves or wraps or something that acted like magic weapons for monks (Besides the amulet), maybe that was something my group just always had house ruled, not that we had that many unarmed monks.
Oh, and as for the things monks can do with a touch attack? Initiate a grapple for one, I think a trip for another. Don't remember if their stunning strike and such is touch or regular attack.
My general point (and I think everyone else's) is that: Yes, monks (generally) can't stand in front of a big nasty and punch it over and over without thought as effectively as a fighter can, but
that isn't their point, their point is that they have a dozen special abilities that they can put to a wide range of uses. If the enemy has a high AC they can grapple it, if the enemy has a big shiny weapon, they can grapple it, if it is a single powerful enemy they can stunning blow it or trip it to make it easy to kill, if there are a large number of enemies or easy to hit enemies they break out flurry, if there is a caster giving problems they run at moch 2 and beat the crud out of the caster, if they fall into a pit trap they don't take damage, if they're captured and stripped of all items they don't care. They have tons of options on what they can do, while fighters basically have: "I hit it with my sword." They're very very good at this, but that is the general extent of what they do. They can't much adjust to really high AC targets, or large numbers of targets, or distant casters, they cry when they are disarmed, tripped, or grappled, and are generally best for being a fighter (Hence the name, clever of them, huh?)