What's boring for some, is exciting and enjoyable to others. Weapon Master feat to get the Light weapon property mastery. I would consider a dip in Barbarian for the Rage or Warlock for the Hex. For Extra damage or Resistance to BPS (or both from rage). Plus any +1,+2,+3 weapons your DM provides. Do your damage, while deflecting or evading. When it becomes too much just Step of the Wing to exit melee. That's not even using your subclass features. :)
Spending a valuable Monk ASI on the Weapon Master feat is doable...but I'm not certain getting a single Weapon Mastery is worth the cost. I feel like the feat should give at least two.
A Monk probably shouldn't dip Warlock just for Hex. If all you want is the 1d6 extra damage on attacks, go Ranger for Hunter's Mark. Unlike Warlock, Ranger has the same Primary Ability Requirements as Monk, so any Monk capable of Multiclassing (13+ DEX, 13+WIS) can take a level in Ranger, whereas the Monk would need a 13+ Charisma to pick up Warlock.
Dipping Ranger also adds two Weapon Masteries (so you can pick up Nick and Vex), Martial Weapon Proficiency, Expertise*, two First-level Spell Slots, Favored Enemy (allowing 2 slotless castings of Hunter's Mark per Long Rest) and Spellcasting that allows you to swap out one of your 2 Prepared Spell every Long Rest, a compatible Spellcasting Ability Score (WIS), and a d10 hit die.
(Edit: Whoops, you need two levels of Ranger to pick up Expertise)
Dipping Warlock gives you 2 spells and 2 Cantrips that are only swappable at Warlock Level Up, y 1 Pact Magic Slot, and 1 Eldritch Invocation (which, admittedly are not to be sneezed at, but pretty limited at Level 1), and a separate Spellcasting Ability Score (CHA)
If primarily Monking, Ranger seems a better choice. Up to 4 Hunters Marks per Long Rest seems more viable than up to 1 Hex per Short Rest. That said, both Hex and Hunter's Mark consume the incredibly useful Monk Bonus Action.
(Edit: Hunter's Mark is also a Verbal-only spell, so you don't have to worry about component or focus-juggling like a Warlock using Hex might)
Dipping Barbarian...Gotta have a Strength of 13+, and the Rage Damage Bonus only works on Strength-based attacks, and not boosting DEX slows your Monk Features. You get 2 Weapon Masteries this way as well, but they're limited to Melee weapons. Again eating that valuable Monk Bonus Action to Activate (or, if necessary, Extend) your Rage.
I'm open to Barbarians and Warlocks, and interested in weapon mastery, but spend my time looking over the DnDBeyond's Monk character sheet. Once I get to forth level, I will either get a weapon master, Grappler, or Speedy feat, because I am not sure how long the campaign is going to last. The DM needs some help working with the monsters, I found the encounter builder and will show him DnDBeyond on his phone for the links between the Monster Manual and Players Handbook. Dicy and Spicy, the Ripe Mango Monk is my flavor of choice, I look over the other classes to suit my fancy like the Thief which gets juicy when they can change some of there dice pool in for other effects.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I love the new app, I can teach the combat system over a few days, as I am a good teacher.
Spending a valuable Monk ASI on the Weapon Master feat is doable...but I'm not certain getting a single Weapon Mastery is worth the cost. I feel like the feat should give at least two.
A Monk probably shouldn't dip Warlock just for Hex. If all you want is the 1d6 extra damage on attacks, go Ranger for Hunter's Mark. Unlike Warlock, Ranger has the same Primary Ability Requirements as Monk, so any Monk capable of Multiclassing (13+ DEX, 13+WIS) can take a level in Ranger, whereas the Monk would need a 13+ Charisma to pick up Warlock.
Dipping Ranger also adds two Weapon Masteries (so you can pick up Nick and Vex), Martial Weapon Proficiency, Expertise*, two First-level Spell Slots, Favored Enemy (allowing 2 slotless castings of Hunter's Mark per Long Rest) and Spellcasting that allows you to swap out one of your 2 Prepared Spell every Long Rest, a compatible Spellcasting Ability Score (WIS), and a d10 hit die.
(Edit: Whoops, you need two levels of Ranger to pick up Expertise)
Dipping Warlock gives you 2 spells and 2 Cantrips that are only swappable at Warlock Level Up, y 1 Pact Magic Slot, and 1 Eldritch Invocation (which, admittedly are not to be sneezed at, but pretty limited at Level 1), and a separate Spellcasting Ability Score (CHA)
If primarily Monking, Ranger seems a better choice. Up to 4 Hunters Marks per Long Rest seems more viable than up to 1 Hex per Short Rest. That said, both Hex and Hunter's Mark consume the incredibly useful Monk Bonus Action.
(Edit: Hunter's Mark is also a Verbal-only spell, so you don't have to worry about component or focus-juggling like a Warlock using Hex might)
Dipping Barbarian...Gotta have a Strength of 13+, and the Rage Damage Bonus only works on Strength-based attacks, and not boosting DEX slows your Monk Features. You get 2 Weapon Masteries this way as well, but they're limited to Melee weapons. Again eating that valuable Monk Bonus Action to Activate (or, if necessary, Extend) your Rage.
I agree that warlock is not worth Hex, but with true strike and the some of the eldritch invocations, it might be a worth while dip. I am not sure if true strike works with unarmed. If you dip 2 levels, you can get multiple origin feats, like alert and toughness and skills.
True Strike also gives you one attack, period, for your Magic Action. And you do not have the option to use your Strength or Dexterity modifiers on that attack if they are superior; unlike with Shillelagh, True Strike always uses the Spellcasting Modifier attached to your acquisition.
So before Monk Level 5, it's less optimal even assuming you get the Martial Arts Die with True Strike, and assuming the Warlock dip for the spell;
For a character that's a Monk dipping Warlock, Option 1 is almost always going to be superior at least up through Monk Level 10. Raw Action Damage starts to pull ahead
Ultimately I think True Strike is too reliant on the Spellcasting Ability Modifier to be worth it on a melee character that isn't going to be pushing that Spellcasting Ability through the roof, and Monk has both DEX and WIS to push. It's a bit easier if you pick up True Strike through Magic Initiate (Wizard) and select Wisdom for the Spellcasting Modifier, but with all the benefits of prioritizing DEX as a character who's primarily Monking, I think True Strikefalls behind.
For low-damage Ranged Weapons or ones with the Loading property (that do not use the Martial Arts die, because Monk Weapons are melee-only) it might be a viable option, given the limited number of Cantrips most characters get, I'd suspect other Cantrips are better choices.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
🎵I'm on top of the world, looking down on creation, wreaking death and devastation with my mind.
As the power that I've found erupts freely from the ground, I will cackle from the top of the world.🎵
I never played the 2014 Monk, so maybe this perception of "boring" is one of comparison or simply not being new and different enough. Because I've been playing a Warrior of the Elements (level 7 now) and I'm having the time of my dang life.
The mobility is insane, and alongside Grappler lets you do some absolutely disgusting things. With Elemental Attunement up, pushing and pulling enemies around with 15ft reach is wildly powerful. Yo-yo'ing a foe back and forth through our Druid's Spike Growth and then Grappling them on the last strike to drag them back and forth through it even more with 45ft of movement is just... wild. Elemental Burst is indeed a bit boring, and can really be a bummer if you roll badly and has bad scaling. But you can still always follow it up with Flurry of Blows for most of the same shenanigans. OP wrote off the Fly speed, but taking that feature in a nutshell is ridiculous. Combine that feature with 15ft reach, insane movement Speed, pushes and pulls, and the immense likelihood that you've also taken Grappler, does it really feel like just another feature with Fly speed?
Idk, I don't see how a class with this much battlefield control and mobility could ever be considered "boring". Maybe if all you ever do is just run up and punch things, or are only considering each feature under a microscope and not in context of the whole game. But I'm playing a sub-optimal (Harengon's coolest species features are mostly redundant on a Monk) version of OP's "most boring" Monk subclass, and it feels marvelous.
I never played the 2014 Monk, so maybe this perception of "boring" is one of comparison or simply not being new and different enough. Because I've been playing a Warrior of the Elements (level 7 now) and I'm having the time of my dang life.
The mobility is insane, and alongside Grappler lets you do some absolutely disgusting things. With Elemental Attunement up, pushing and pulling enemies around with 15ft reach is wildly powerful. Yo-yo'ing a foe back and forth through our Druid's Spike Growth and then Grappling them on the last strike to drag them back and forth through it even more with 45ft of movement is just... wild. Elemental Burst is indeed a bit boring, and can really be a bummer if you roll badly and has bad scaling. But you can still always follow it up with Flurry of Blows for most of the same shenanigans. OP wrote off the Fly speed, but taking that feature in a nutshell is ridiculous. Combine that feature with 15ft reach, insane movement Speed, pushes and pulls, and the immense likelihood that you've also taken Grappler, does it really feel like just another feature with Fly speed?
Idk, I don't see how a class with this much battlefield control and mobility could ever be considered "boring". Maybe if all you ever do is just run up and punch things, or are only considering each feature under a microscope and not in context of the whole game. But I'm playing a sub-optimal (Harengon's coolest species features are mostly redundant on a Monk) version of OP's "most boring" Monk subclass, and it feels marvelous.
It's a cookie-cutter subclass that bears a striking resemblance to the old Sun Soul Monk with a bit more control and flight. Flight is fine, but it's not really a substitute for the wide variety of other things an Element powered Monk should be able to do. How many subclasses now have flight or something close to it? At least 8?
Here are some things that a Monk subclass calling itself an Elements Monk should be able to do or at least have the option of doing them with certain level progression choices:
* Set stuff on fire.
* Freeze water.
* Influence earthen terrain.
* Knock someone prone with water or air attacks.
* Set an opponent on fire.
The Elements Monk in 2024 should have been designed more like the original Totem Barbarian: get choices as you level up to do stuff that is both flavorful and powerful. Instead, we get no meaningful choices. Changing elemental damage hardly matteers for a subclass that lacks a strong interest in exploiting elemental weaknesses.
The Warrior of the Open Hand is not inherently ordinary.
The devs could have easily have incorporated most of its early level features into the base Monk class. Then there would be no need for Weapon Masteries for Monks. By forcing Monks to multi-class to Fighter or another martial class for Weapon Masteries, most only-Monk builds become reliant on the now weaker Stunning Strike. That's not really an offense improvement unless damage through Unarmed Strikes is your main concern.
The Warrior of the Open Hand is not inherently ordinary.
The devs could have easily have incorporated most of its early level features into the base Monk class.
If they had done that, what then would be the low-level abilities of the archetypal subclass?
Also, if they'd done that, then every subclass would have those abilities, in addition to their own abilities. Or you have to strip away their unique basic abilities.
Class balance matters. You can't just add abilities to the class and subclasses to give it the flavor you want, if that would lead to it overshadowing other classes. Similarly, your desire to have elements get more avataresque stuff has the same problem.
(Now, one can make the argument that they got the class balance wrong, and the class/subclass needs the extra stuff in order to keep up. But that's not, in my experience, a plausible argument for 24 monk. And it's also not the argument you've been making.)
Then there would be no need for Weapon Masteries for Monks. By forcing Monks to multi-class to Fighter or another martial class for Weapon Masteries, most only-Monk builds become reliant on the now weaker Stunning Strike.
In my experience, monks' lack of weapon masteries is no big deal, and I don't use stunning strike that often. Would I have tried it on if our recent fight with a dragon got to melee? Sure; that's the sort of situation where it really pays off. But it's one tool in the toolbox, not the class's entire thing.
The Warrior of the Open Hand is not inherently ordinary.
The devs could have easily have incorporated most of its early level features into the base Monk class.
If they had done that, what then would be the low-level abilities of the archetypal subclass?
Also, if they'd done that, then every subclass would have those abilities, in addition to their own abilities. Or you have to strip away their unique basic abilities.
Class balance matters. You can't just add abilities to the class and subclasses to give it the flavor you want, if that would lead to it overshadowing other classes. Similarly, your desire to have elements get more avataresque stuff has the same problem.
(Now, one can make the argument that they got the class balance wrong, and the class/subclass needs the extra stuff in order to keep up. But that's not, in my experience, a plausible argument for 24 monk. And it's also not the argument you've been making.)
Then there would be no need for Weapon Masteries for Monks. By forcing Monks to multi-class to Fighter or another martial class for Weapon Masteries, most only-Monk builds become reliant on the now weaker Stunning Strike.
In my experience, monks' lack of weapon masteries is no big deal, and I don't use stunning strike that often. Would I have tried it on if our recent fight with a dragon got to melee? Sure; that's the sort of situation where it really pays off. But it's one tool in the toolbox, not the class'sAga entire thing.
Again, you are ignoring the fact that Rune Knight and Psi Warrior and Soul Knife allow allow martial classes to do magic stuff that influences both combat and out-of-combat. So why is the Monk stuck not having such tools?
I'm not against the nerfing of Stunning Stike, but the lack of other effective control options without sacrificing damage on a class that's supposed to be about doing more strikes than most melee classes is odd. Again, "manipulate" comes from the Roman word "manus," which means hand. As in using hands to control something or someone. Why Monks get no default control abilities outside of Stunning Strike is both anti-thematic and un-fun for Monk players who see EVERYONE SINGLE other martial class be doing the Weapon Masteries..
In my experience, monks' lack of weapon masteries is no big deal, and I don't use stunning strike that often. Would I have tried it on if our recent fight with a dragon got to melee? Sure; that's the sort of situation where it really pays off. But it's one tool in the toolbox, not the class'sAga entire thing.
Again, you are ignoring the fact that Rune Knight and Psi Warrior and Soul Knife allow allow martial classes to do magic stuff that influences both combat and out-of-combat. So why is the Monk stuck not having such tools?
They're playtesting one now, I believe. (Also, you're stretching real hard on, at the minimum, Soul Knife.)
But so what if they don't have that kind of subclass? One must evaluate the class/subclass for what it is, not what it doesn't even try to be. "Why didn't they do Some Other Thing?" is a question that cannot be satisfied. They only had four subclasses (really three, because one's always the archetype), and they went different ways. Maybe the utility magic subclass didn't make it out of design or internal playtest. Maybe they didn't try it. If they had, somebody in the parallel universe is asking "why didn't they do Some Other Thing?" about the subclass we got that they didn't make.
I'm not against the nerfing of Stunning Stike, but the lack of other effective control options without sacrificing damage on a class that's supposed to be about doing more strikes than most melee classes is odd.
Monk isn't a control class as such. By the 4e taxonomy, it's a striker, but really it's a utility infielder. Three of the four subclasses have control options beyond stunning strike. They're just different. If you want weapon-mastery-esque stuff, open hand is your bag. If you want positional control, it's elements. Shadow gets to sling darkness around for zone interdiction, but it's really more leaning in to the "highly-mobile striker" part of the class.
Why Monks get no default control abilities outside of Stunning Strike is both anti-thematic and un-fun for Monk players who see EVERYONE SINGLE other martial class be doing the Weapon Masteries..
I don't have any inside knowledge, but it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't give monks weapon masteries because many monk players don't want to use weapons. If weapon masteries are one of their abilities, monk players either have to use weapons, or play down an ability. Instead, they got low-level abilities that don't rely on weapons, and thus the class fantasy is more available to the players. If they want weapons, they can do weapons, but they're not disadvantaged for either choice.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
The Warrior of the Open Hand is not inherently ordinary.
I love the new app, I can teach the combat system over a few days, as I am a good teacher.
What's boring for some, is exciting and enjoyable to others. Weapon Master feat to get the Light weapon property mastery. I would consider a dip in Barbarian for the Rage or Warlock for the Hex. For Extra damage or Resistance to BPS (or both from rage). Plus any +1,+2,+3 weapons your DM provides. Do your damage, while deflecting or evading. When it becomes too much just Step of the Wing to exit melee. That's not even using your subclass features. :)
Spending a valuable Monk ASI on the Weapon Master feat is doable...but I'm not certain getting a single Weapon Mastery is worth the cost. I feel like the feat should give at least two.
A Monk probably shouldn't dip Warlock just for Hex. If all you want is the 1d6 extra damage on attacks, go Ranger for Hunter's Mark. Unlike Warlock, Ranger has the same Primary Ability Requirements as Monk, so any Monk capable of Multiclassing (13+ DEX, 13+WIS) can take a level in Ranger, whereas the Monk would need a 13+ Charisma to pick up Warlock.
Dipping Ranger also adds two Weapon Masteries (so you can pick up Nick and Vex), Martial Weapon Proficiency,
Expertise*, two First-level Spell Slots, Favored Enemy (allowing 2 slotless castings of Hunter's Mark per Long Rest) and Spellcasting that allows you to swap out one of your 2 Prepared Spell every Long Rest, a compatible Spellcasting Ability Score (WIS), and a d10 hit die.(Edit: Whoops, you need two levels of Ranger to pick up Expertise)
Dipping Warlock gives you 2 spells and 2 Cantrips that are only swappable at Warlock Level Up, y 1 Pact Magic Slot, and 1 Eldritch Invocation (which, admittedly are not to be sneezed at, but pretty limited at Level 1), and a separate Spellcasting Ability Score (CHA)
If primarily Monking, Ranger seems a better choice. Up to 4 Hunters Marks per Long Rest seems more viable than up to 1 Hex per Short Rest. That said, both Hex and Hunter's Mark consume the incredibly useful Monk Bonus Action.
(Edit: Hunter's Mark is also a Verbal-only spell, so you don't have to worry about component or focus-juggling like a Warlock using Hex might)
Dipping Barbarian...Gotta have a Strength of 13+, and the Rage Damage Bonus only works on Strength-based attacks, and not boosting DEX slows your Monk Features. You get 2 Weapon Masteries this way as well, but they're limited to Melee weapons. Again eating that valuable Monk Bonus Action to Activate (or, if necessary, Extend) your Rage.
🎵I'm on top of the world, looking down on creation, wreaking death and devastation with my mind.
As the power that I've found erupts freely from the ground, I will cackle from the top of the world.🎵
Charisma Saving Throw: DC 18, Failure: 20d6 Psychic Damage, Success: Half damage
I'm open to Barbarians and Warlocks, and interested in weapon mastery, but spend my time looking over the DnDBeyond's Monk character sheet. Once I get to forth level, I will either get a weapon master, Grappler, or Speedy feat, because I am not sure how long the campaign is going to last. The DM needs some help working with the monsters, I found the encounter builder and will show him DnDBeyond on his phone for the links between the Monster Manual and Players Handbook. Dicy and Spicy, the Ripe Mango Monk is my flavor of choice, I look over the other classes to suit my fancy like the Thief which gets juicy when they can change some of there dice pool in for other effects.
I love the new app, I can teach the combat system over a few days, as I am a good teacher.
I agree that warlock is not worth Hex, but with true strike and the some of the eldritch invocations, it might be a worth while dip. I am not sure if true strike works with unarmed. If you dip 2 levels, you can get multiple origin feats, like alert and toughness and skills.
True Strike explicitly requires the use of a weapon and thus does not work with Unarmed Strikes.
pronouns: he/she/they
True Strike also gives you one attack, period, for your Magic Action. And you do not have the option to use your Strength or Dexterity modifiers on that attack if they are superior; unlike with Shillelagh, True Strike always uses the Spellcasting Modifier attached to your acquisition.
So before Monk Level 5, it's less optimal even assuming you get the Martial Arts Die with True Strike, and assuming the Warlock dip for the spell;
At Monk level 5, you get your Extra Attack, and your Martial Arts Die hits d8.
Level 11:
Level 17:
For a character that's a Monk dipping Warlock, Option 1 is almost always going to be superior at least up through Monk Level 10. Raw Action Damage starts to pull ahead
Ultimately I think True Strike is too reliant on the Spellcasting Ability Modifier to be worth it on a melee character that isn't going to be pushing that Spellcasting Ability through the roof, and Monk has both DEX and WIS to push. It's a bit easier if you pick up True Strike through Magic Initiate (Wizard) and select Wisdom for the Spellcasting Modifier, but with all the benefits of prioritizing DEX as a character who's primarily Monking, I think True Strikefalls behind.
For low-damage Ranged Weapons or ones with the Loading property (that do not use the Martial Arts die, because Monk Weapons are melee-only) it might be a viable option, given the limited number of Cantrips most characters get, I'd suspect other Cantrips are better choices.
🎵I'm on top of the world, looking down on creation, wreaking death and devastation with my mind.
As the power that I've found erupts freely from the ground, I will cackle from the top of the world.🎵
Charisma Saving Throw: DC 18, Failure: 20d6 Psychic Damage, Success: Half damage
I never played the 2014 Monk, so maybe this perception of "boring" is one of comparison or simply not being new and different enough. Because I've been playing a Warrior of the Elements (level 7 now) and I'm having the time of my dang life.
The mobility is insane, and alongside Grappler lets you do some absolutely disgusting things. With Elemental Attunement up, pushing and pulling enemies around with 15ft reach is wildly powerful. Yo-yo'ing a foe back and forth through our Druid's Spike Growth and then Grappling them on the last strike to drag them back and forth through it even more with 45ft of movement is just... wild.
Elemental Burst is indeed a bit boring, and can really be a bummer if you roll badly and has bad scaling. But you can still always follow it up with Flurry of Blows for most of the same shenanigans.
OP wrote off the Fly speed, but taking that feature in a nutshell is ridiculous. Combine that feature with 15ft reach, insane movement Speed, pushes and pulls, and the immense likelihood that you've also taken Grappler, does it really feel like just another feature with Fly speed?
Idk, I don't see how a class with this much battlefield control and mobility could ever be considered "boring". Maybe if all you ever do is just run up and punch things, or are only considering each feature under a microscope and not in context of the whole game. But I'm playing a sub-optimal (Harengon's coolest species features are mostly redundant on a Monk) version of OP's "most boring" Monk subclass, and it feels marvelous.
It's a cookie-cutter subclass that bears a striking resemblance to the old Sun Soul Monk with a bit more control and flight. Flight is fine, but it's not really a substitute for the wide variety of other things an Element powered Monk should be able to do. How many subclasses now have flight or something close to it? At least 8?
Here are some things that a Monk subclass calling itself an Elements Monk should be able to do or at least have the option of doing them with certain level progression choices:
* Set stuff on fire.
* Freeze water.
* Influence earthen terrain.
* Knock someone prone with water or air attacks.
* Set an opponent on fire.
The Elements Monk in 2024 should have been designed more like the original Totem Barbarian: get choices as you level up to do stuff that is both flavorful and powerful. Instead, we get no meaningful choices. Changing elemental damage hardly matteers for a subclass that lacks a strong interest in exploiting elemental weaknesses.
The devs could have easily have incorporated most of its early level features into the base Monk class. Then there would be no need for Weapon Masteries for Monks. By forcing Monks to multi-class to Fighter or another martial class for Weapon Masteries, most only-Monk builds become reliant on the now weaker Stunning Strike. That's not really an offense improvement unless damage through Unarmed Strikes is your main concern.
If they had done that, what then would be the low-level abilities of the archetypal subclass?
Also, if they'd done that, then every subclass would have those abilities, in addition to their own abilities. Or you have to strip away their unique basic abilities.
Class balance matters. You can't just add abilities to the class and subclasses to give it the flavor you want, if that would lead to it overshadowing other classes. Similarly, your desire to have elements get more avataresque stuff has the same problem.
(Now, one can make the argument that they got the class balance wrong, and the class/subclass needs the extra stuff in order to keep up. But that's not, in my experience, a plausible argument for 24 monk. And it's also not the argument you've been making.)
In my experience, monks' lack of weapon masteries is no big deal, and I don't use stunning strike that often. Would I have tried it on if our recent fight with a dragon got to melee? Sure; that's the sort of situation where it really pays off. But it's one tool in the toolbox, not the class's entire thing.
Again, you are ignoring the fact that Rune Knight and Psi Warrior and Soul Knife allow allow martial classes to do magic stuff that influences both combat and out-of-combat. So why is the Monk stuck not having such tools?
I'm not against the nerfing of Stunning Stike, but the lack of other effective control options without sacrificing damage on a class that's supposed to be about doing more strikes than most melee classes is odd. Again, "manipulate" comes from the Roman word "manus," which means hand. As in using hands to control something or someone. Why Monks get no default control abilities outside of Stunning Strike is both anti-thematic and un-fun for Monk players who see EVERYONE SINGLE other martial class be doing the Weapon Masteries..
They're playtesting one now, I believe. (Also, you're stretching real hard on, at the minimum, Soul Knife.)
But so what if they don't have that kind of subclass? One must evaluate the class/subclass for what it is, not what it doesn't even try to be. "Why didn't they do Some Other Thing?" is a question that cannot be satisfied. They only had four subclasses (really three, because one's always the archetype), and they went different ways. Maybe the utility magic subclass didn't make it out of design or internal playtest. Maybe they didn't try it. If they had, somebody in the parallel universe is asking "why didn't they do Some Other Thing?" about the subclass we got that they didn't make.
Monk isn't a control class as such. By the 4e taxonomy, it's a striker, but really it's a utility infielder. Three of the four subclasses have control options beyond stunning strike. They're just different. If you want weapon-mastery-esque stuff, open hand is your bag. If you want positional control, it's elements. Shadow gets to sling darkness around for zone interdiction, but it's really more leaning in to the "highly-mobile striker" part of the class.
I don't have any inside knowledge, but it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't give monks weapon masteries because many monk players don't want to use weapons. If weapon masteries are one of their abilities, monk players either have to use weapons, or play down an ability. Instead, they got low-level abilities that don't rely on weapons, and thus the class fantasy is more available to the players. If they want weapons, they can do weapons, but they're not disadvantaged for either choice.