Honestly, I think that a quick fix for 4-Elements is to simply give the player access to ALL of the Elemental Disciplines as soon as you choose the subclass. You barely get any of them, and there aren't that many to begin with. At level 3 you're not so much a "4 Elements Monk" so much as you're a one-element monk who has access to a worse version of Prestidigitation. So you better hope that the one Discipline you invested in is the one that's going to prove helpful in what you're doing in a way that just running up and doing Flurry of Blows isn't.
This seems like a lot... at 3rd level you basically know 8 spells. But you also only have 3 Ki points... not enough to throw off the balance of combat, but it adds some much needed versatility. Even if you don't have enough Ki points to go around blasting fire and ice at everything around you, at the very least you can have the option to use your Ki points on whatever spell will be most mechanically useful in a given situation, instead of hoping and praying that you picked a Discipline that isn't going to prove useless in comparison to your other Monk options.
Prestidigitation if you really treat it as a cantrip basically sucks anyway. People just love it so much that most players and DM's give it a lot more uses and powers than it really has.
Like it doesn't really clean entire people with just a wave of your hand by the way it's written. You clean them in little parts at best and at strictest it can't clean people but if you take their dirty clothes off and pile them up you can get the dirt and blood off at least.
When you really compare the two "cantrips" side by side. They actually do mostly the same things.
The big differences are that the Elemental Attunement cantrip can't flavor things where Prestidigitation can.
Prestidigitations making a small mark or symbol lasts an hour, And it's ability to make a small illusion or trinket lasts for basically a turn. These are in a way equivalent to the Elemental Attunement's ability to shape up to a cubic foot of any of the 4 basic elements into crude shapes of the Monk's desire for a minute. So there are gives and takes here but with creativity they can cover a similar range of basic functions in different ways for creative players and dm allowance.
This leaves only to clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot. Which a creative DM and player could probably approximate in some ways with Elemental Attunement to some extent as well and some "fluid" definitions about how things do or don't count as basic elements (blood perhaps being somewhat equivalent to water for example). Since Prestidigitation is given some liberties anyway.
Everything else that can be done can actually be done with either of them.
As for the powers. You could give them all of them. but I don't think that is necessarily needed. I think that just more are needed. And Perhaps more chances to switch them out maybe. All is more of them and you can let Ki balance it out. that's kind of an individual choice. I just feel like it needs something a bit more middle of the road myself. Bit more usage and a bit more powers but not necessarily everything.
The problem with the 4 Elements monk is resource management. The ki costs of the spells are so high that you can really only cast one or two spells per short rest. Doing so keeps you from using all your other monk abilities. It also can't be balanced while only using ki. Costs are either too low for late game or too high for early game. Or in the case of the way they went, poorly balanced for both. The only simple solution is to remove casting spells from ki. Is it the most flavorful option? You can flavor the spell slots to be whatever makes sense. In my opinion, it is the best option mechanically.
Giving access to all Elemental Disciplines (ED) up front would be ok and maybe you can still allow them to use their ED at no cost Proficiency Bonus times per short rest and if they want to use them further, then they have to use their Ki points. So at least they get a few uses without expending their Ki too quickly. Elemental Attunement would be free all the time.
I would still prefer creating ED abilities that are not just casting a spell. Like you hit the ground in your space (punch or stomp the ground) and any creature within 10 foot radius has to make a DEX save or fall prone (maybe causes damage maybe not). Could be a bonus action attack so your attack action can be used at advantage on those who fell prone. Or your fists (or feet) are encased by ice and when you attack you do bonus cold damage.
I mean, burning hands “As you hold your hands with thumbs touching and fingers spread, a thin sheet of flames shoots forth from your outstretched fingertips.” doesn’t really feel monkish to me. Maybe I don’t watch enough anime.
The simplest method is generally the correct one. To me, I see two simple fixes (background: I am currently playing a Four Element Monk):
1) Reduce ki cost of all elemental disciplines. This is the fix my DM is allowing me to use -- all disciplines cost 1 fewer ki, to a minimum of 1 ki. So far, it has worked quite well, but it doesn't fix the issue of how many disciplines you learn over the course of the game.
2) Treat all disciplines the same way prepared spellcasting classes treat spells. Give all of them (or keep some to requiring prerequisite levels) at once, and allow the monk to decide to have x prepared at a given time -- presumably allowing changes on a short rest, akin to ki replenishment. I think the most reasonable ways to determine the number of prepared elemental disciplines by either monk level (similar to how many disciplines you know changes at 3, 6, 11, 17 now), proficiency bonus (which would only get you one more ED in 20 levels, but would make multiclassing a bit more appealing), or WIS and/or DEX modifier (which would start with a pretty high number of EDs known, presumably 5+ at least).
Now we've solved their two major issues all in one fell swoop, all without completely changing their mechanics or the core mechanic of the monk class (ki).
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Honestly, I think that a quick fix for 4-Elements is to simply give the player access to ALL of the Elemental Disciplines as soon as you choose the subclass. You barely get any of them, and there aren't that many to begin with. At level 3 you're not so much a "4 Elements Monk" so much as you're a one-element monk who has access to a worse version of Prestidigitation. So you better hope that the one Discipline you invested in is the one that's going to prove helpful in what you're doing in a way that just running up and doing Flurry of Blows isn't.
This seems like a lot... at 3rd level you basically know 8 spells. But you also only have 3 Ki points... not enough to throw off the balance of combat, but it adds some much needed versatility. Even if you don't have enough Ki points to go around blasting fire and ice at everything around you, at the very least you can have the option to use your Ki points on whatever spell will be most mechanically useful in a given situation, instead of hoping and praying that you picked a Discipline that isn't going to prove useless in comparison to your other Monk options.
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Prestidigitation if you really treat it as a cantrip basically sucks anyway. People just love it so much that most players and DM's give it a lot more uses and powers than it really has.
Like it doesn't really clean entire people with just a wave of your hand by the way it's written. You clean them in little parts at best and at strictest it can't clean people but if you take their dirty clothes off and pile them up you can get the dirt and blood off at least.
When you really compare the two "cantrips" side by side. They actually do mostly the same things.
The big differences are that the Elemental Attunement cantrip can't flavor things where Prestidigitation can.
Prestidigitations making a small mark or symbol lasts an hour, And it's ability to make a small illusion or trinket lasts for basically a turn. These are in a way equivalent to the Elemental Attunement's ability to shape up to a cubic foot of any of the 4 basic elements into crude shapes of the Monk's desire for a minute. So there are gives and takes here but with creativity they can cover a similar range of basic functions in different ways for creative players and dm allowance.
This leaves only to clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot. Which a creative DM and player could probably approximate in some ways with Elemental Attunement to some extent as well and some "fluid" definitions about how things do or don't count as basic elements (blood perhaps being somewhat equivalent to water for example). Since Prestidigitation is given some liberties anyway.
Everything else that can be done can actually be done with either of them.
As for the powers. You could give them all of them. but I don't think that is necessarily needed. I think that just more are needed. And Perhaps more chances to switch them out maybe. All is more of them and you can let Ki balance it out. that's kind of an individual choice. I just feel like it needs something a bit more middle of the road myself. Bit more usage and a bit more powers but not necessarily everything.
The problem with the 4 Elements monk is resource management. The ki costs of the spells are so high that you can really only cast one or two spells per short rest. Doing so keeps you from using all your other monk abilities. It also can't be balanced while only using ki. Costs are either too low for late game or too high for early game. Or in the case of the way they went, poorly balanced for both. The only simple solution is to remove casting spells from ki. Is it the most flavorful option? You can flavor the spell slots to be whatever makes sense. In my opinion, it is the best option mechanically.
Giving access to all Elemental Disciplines (ED) up front would be ok and maybe you can still allow them to use their ED at no cost Proficiency Bonus times per short rest and if they want to use them further, then they have to use their Ki points. So at least they get a few uses without expending their Ki too quickly. Elemental Attunement would be free all the time.
I would still prefer creating ED abilities that are not just casting a spell. Like you hit the ground in your space (punch or stomp the ground) and any creature within 10 foot radius has to make a DEX save or fall prone (maybe causes damage maybe not). Could be a bonus action attack so your attack action can be used at advantage on those who fell prone. Or your fists (or feet) are encased by ice and when you attack you do bonus cold damage.
I mean, burning hands “As you hold your hands with thumbs touching and fingers spread, a thin sheet of flames shoots forth from your outstretched fingertips.” doesn’t really feel monkish to me. Maybe I don’t watch enough anime.
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The simplest method is generally the correct one. To me, I see two simple fixes (background: I am currently playing a Four Element Monk):
1) Reduce ki cost of all elemental disciplines. This is the fix my DM is allowing me to use -- all disciplines cost 1 fewer ki, to a minimum of 1 ki. So far, it has worked quite well, but it doesn't fix the issue of how many disciplines you learn over the course of the game.
2) Treat all disciplines the same way prepared spellcasting classes treat spells. Give all of them (or keep some to requiring prerequisite levels) at once, and allow the monk to decide to have x prepared at a given time -- presumably allowing changes on a short rest, akin to ki replenishment. I think the most reasonable ways to determine the number of prepared elemental disciplines by either monk level (similar to how many disciplines you know changes at 3, 6, 11, 17 now), proficiency bonus (which would only get you one more ED in 20 levels, but would make multiclassing a bit more appealing), or WIS and/or DEX modifier (which would start with a pretty high number of EDs known, presumably 5+ at least).
Now we've solved their two major issues all in one fell swoop, all without completely changing their mechanics or the core mechanic of the monk class (ki).