I have had a lot of ideas and criticisms for the revisions that have been made to the Monk class. For me, it made the most sense to lay it out in a format similar to the one in which it was presented.

TLDR: Monks gain access to Discipline/Focus/Ki points on a per round basis. These points fuel their abilities which may or may not be tied to disciplines and abilities focused around Martial Stances. I'd love to see where this could take the Monk. 

I've left the Monk with the d8 hit die to make it 'backwards compatible'; same with the Saves, Skills, and Proficiencies.

Monk Class Features                       

As a Monk, you gain the following class features when you reach the specified levels in this class. These features are listed on the Monk table.

1st Level: Martial Arts

Your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use your Unarmed Strike and Simple Weapons.

You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only Simple Weapons and you aren't wearing armor or wielding a shield: 

Bonus Unarmed Strike. When you use the Attack action with an Unarmed Strike or a Simple Weapon on your turn, you can make one Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action on the same turn. (Hopefully this is the bonus action of last resort at higher levels. I also hope not to have too Bonus Actions unnecessarily taxing the Monk's playstyle.)

Dexterous Attacks. You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your Unarmed Strikes and Simple Weapons, except those that have the Two- Handed property. When using an Unarmed Strike to impose a saving throw, you may use your Dexterity where applicable, i.e. Grapple, Shove, and Knock Prone. (Omitting Dexterity saves for Unarmed Strikes seems like a huge miss, especially for Tavern Brawler, Grappler Monks.)

Martial Arts Die. You can roll a d6 in place of the normal damage of your Unarmed Strike. This die changes as you gain Monk levels, as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table. (This might not need to grow if Monk is able to scale its attacks based upon Focus points. I'll let other people play with math.)

1st Level: Unarmored Defense

While you aren’t wearing any armor or wielding a Shield, your base Armor Class equals 10 plus your Dexterity and Wisdom modifiers. (If Patient Defense can be accessed when needed this AC isn't the worst. Also, Deflect Attack (see below) should help with this.)

1st Level: Weapon Mastery

Your training with weapons allows you to use the Mastery property of two kinds of Simple weapons of your choice, such as Daggers and Spears. Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can change the kinds of Simple weapons you chose. For example, you could switch to using the Mastery properties of Maces and Slings. (Side note: Half-casters don't need access to Masteries without giving something up for it. Paladins and Rangers might choose Masteries over Fighting Styles, but getting both and access to spells just feels like an insult to adding a new mechanic for "warriors" that got watered down. For Rogues, I'd say getting a Mastery in lieu of an Expertise seems like a good trade.) 

1st Level: Martial Arts Mastery

Your training with Martial Arts allows you access to a range of Martial Stances. On your turn, you may spend a Focus point to use a Bonus Action to assume a Martial Stance. While in a Martial Stance, you may use applicable Martial Disciplines and Unarmed Strike Masteries you have trained. You remain in this Martial Stance until you use a Bonus Action to assume another Stance or assume no Martial Stance. (I'm not married to the Bonus Action, since Monks already have so many Bonus Actions, but I needed to start somewhere.)

You may have one trained Unarmed Strike Mastery per Martial Stance. Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can change the Unarmed Strike Masteries you chose. The Defensive Stance allows Unarmed Strikes to apply the Sap, Topple, or Goad (from the Swashbuckler's Panache) masteries. The Mobility Stance allows Unarmed Strikes to apply the Slow, Push, Addle (see Open Hand), or Terrify (Frighten the target) masteries. The Offensive Stance allows Unarmed Strikes to apply the Cleave, Graze, or Vex masteries. (The number of Masteries might need to be level gated. Additionally, depending upon the damage of the Martial Arts die, access might be limited as well.)

2nd Level: Martial Discipline

Your self-discipline and martial training allow you to harness a well of extraordinary energy within yourself. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of Focus Points. Your Monk level determines the number of points you have, as shown in the Focus Points column of the Monk table (2 @ level 2, 3 @ level 5, 4 @ level 11, and 5 @ level 17).

Each round, you can spend these points to fuel various Martial Discipline features. You start knowing three such features: Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind. You learn more Martial Discipline features as you gain levels in this class.

When you spend a Focus Point, it is unavailable until you start your next turn. When you start your turn, you regain all your expended points.

Some of your Martial Discipline features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature’s effects. The saving throw DC equals 8 plus your Proficiency Bonus plus your Wisdom modifier.  (If you're already building Dexterity and Wisdom, why not have to track different Saving Throw values; just going with the playtest doc here.)

Flurry of Blows. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend Focus Points to make a number of Unarmed Strikes equal to the number of Focus points spent as part of that Attack action. (I'm sure there's a better way to write this. Basically, tie Flurry of Blows to a triggering attack action and not a bonus action. Feels like shifting the Bonus Action to the Attack in the same way that the Light Weapon property does. I haven't touched any of the revised subclasses, but there'd likely need to be changes to the 'ki free' Flurry of Blows subclass.)

Patient Defense. While in the Defensive Stance, you may spend a Focus point to take the Dodge action as a Bonus Action. If you activated your Defensive Stance this turn, you may spend an additional Focus point to take the Dodge action as part of that Bonus Action. (Dodge up on the 1st round; at higher levels you might still be able to Flurry of Blows on the same round as Dodging. Getting easier access to Dodge should help with survivability when needed.) 

Step of the Wind. While in your Mobility Stance, you can spend 1 Focus Point to take the Disengage or Dash actions as a Bonus Action, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn. If you choose, you may spend a second Focus point to take the Disengage and Dash actions as a Bonus Action. (This should playout similar to the old monk from 2-4 then like the One D&D monk from 5-10 and gain more functionality at 11+. I haven't messed w/ any of the subclasses.)

2nd Level: Unarmored Movement

Your speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a Shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain Monk levels, as shown in the Monk table. (I'd daydreamed about tying movement to Mobility Stance but nah.)

3rd Level: Deflect Attack

While in Defensive Stance, you can use your Reaction to deflect melee or ranged attacks against you that deal Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage. When you do so, you may roll 1 Martial Arts die for each Focus point you spend. The amount rolled is added to your AC when determining if the incoming attack hits. If your Deflect Attack causes the incoming attack to miss, you may spend a Focus point to perform an Unarmed Strike in retaliation. (This should help with effective HP when you're focused on that. I'm thinking the retaliation attack might be level gated beyond 3.)

3rd Level: Monk Subclass

You gain a Monk subclass of your choice: Warrior of Mercy, Warrior of Shadow, Warrior of the Four Elements, or Warrior of the Open Hand. Subclasses are detailed after this class’s description (for this playtest, use Way of Mercy from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything for Warrior of Mercy). (I haven't touched these, since I'm focused on getting the core class to feel more interesting.)

A subclass is a specialization that grants you special abilities at certain Monk levels. For the rest of your career, you gain each of your subclass’s features that are of your Monk level and lower.

4th Level: Ability Score Improvement

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.

4th Level: Slow Fall

You can use your Reaction when you fall to reduce any damage you take from the fall by an amount equal to five times your Monk level. (I'm surprised this didn't cost Ki. All kidding aside, it might be fun to have a level gated version of this that allows the Monk to spend Ki points to add additional targets to the slow fall.)

5th Level: Extra Attack

You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. (Useful for all Monks.)

5th Level: Stunning Strike

Once per turn when you hit a creature with a Simple Weapon or an Unarmed Strike, you can spend up to 2 Focus Points to attempt a stunning strike. If you spend 1 Focus point, the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or have the Stunned condition until the start of your next turn. If you spend 2 Focus points, the target must succeed on a second Constitution saving throw or have the Dazed condition until the start of your next turn. (Basically sacrifice Unarmed Strikes to add Stun or Daze if you want.)

6th Level: Empowered Strikes

Whenever you deal damage with your Unarmed Strike, it can deal your choice of Force damage or its normal damage type. 

While in your Offensive Stance, you may use your Reaction to spend 1 Focus point to impose Disadvantage on a Saving Throw triggered by your Unarmed Strike, Simple Weapon, or Martial Disciplines. (A way to make the Offensive Stance standout. Not married to it being at 6th. Hell, I'm not married to Force damage either (Eldritch kicks), but I am hoping that they've changed how damage reduction works for Monsters, because having a Moontouched Weapon is a lame way to bypass a CR 20's damage resistance.) 

6th Level: Subclass Feature

You gain a feature from your Monk subclass.

7th Level: Evasion

When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail. You don’t benefit from this feature if you have the Incapacitated condition. (Old staple.)

8th Level: Ability Score Improvement

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.

9th Level: Acrobatic Movement

While you are in your Mobility Stance and you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a Shield, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the movement. (Honestly, its a reason to be in the Mobility Stance outside of Combat. Since Focus comes around every 6 seconds, its not a big tax.)

10th Level: Self-Restoration

Through sheer force of will, you can use your Reaction to remove one of the following conditions from yourself: Charmed, Frightened, or Poisoned. (End the condition quickly and not with a Bonus Action.)

In addition, forgoing food and drink doesn’t give you levels of Exhaustion. 

11th Level: Subclass Feature

You gain a feature from your Monk subclass.

12th Level: Ability Score Improvement

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.

13th Level: Deflect Energy

You can now use your Deflect Attack feature against attacks that deal any damage type, not just Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing. (More Effective HP.)

14th Level: Disciplined Survivor

Your physical and mental discipline grant you proficiency in all saving throws. (Old staple. Is 14 the right level for it?)

Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail, you can spend 1 Discipline Point to reroll it and take the second result.

15th Level: Defy Death

If you drop to 0 Hit Points, you can spend any number of Focus points available to you. You remaining Hit Points are set to (n+1) x your Monk Level where n is the number of Focus points spent. You may use this feature, once per Long Rest. (Up to 120 HP heal, 1/LR. If you know the end is near, you'll likely be prepared for it. Well, prepared to defy it.)

In addition, you no longer age normally.

16th Level: Ability Score Improvement

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.

17th Level: Subclass Feature

You gain a feature from your Monk subclass.

18th Level: Superior Defense

As a Bonus Action, you can spend 3 Focus Points to perfectly bolster yourself against harm for 1 minute or until you are Incapacitated. During that time, you have resistance to all damage except Force damage. (I haven't changed much here. It allows any Martial Stance to have better Effective HP not just the Defensive Stance. 3 Focus would still allow for 4 attacks assuming 5 Focus points per round.)

19th Level: Ability Score Improvement

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.

20th Level: Insert Placeholder

With all of these changes, there has to be a capstone that is exciting to a Monk. Here's a few ideas: 4 Dexterity, 4 Wisdom, and +1 Max Focus/round. Hell, a Flexible pool of Focus to super charge your normal turns. Fly speed for Mobility, Extra Reactions for Defense, Bonus Damage for Offense. I'm open to suggestions.

The goal I had in mind with these changes were to try to move beyond the Monk feeling like a class that has a "well of extraordinary energy" that can run out in 12-48 seconds. Having a resource that is flexible to the demands of the fight in the moment sounds more interesting to me, and I hope that these suggestions live up to that goal. 

I like most of these suggestions and the overall intent of what this would make the Monk feel like.  Spending these ki points (as that is what I will call them since changing the name of a thing without changing what it does is insulting) on different things mainly based on your stance feels like a cross between what a rogue does by sacrificing sneak attack dice and what a barbarian does with turning on their rage.  I also like the idea of them getting extra DEX and/or WIS at level 20.

I'd probably keep their unarmed attacks at 1d4 since they're gonna get significantly more attacks.  I would also probably look at tying more of the features you can spend ki points on to different stances so that the choices you make in combat feel more meaningful and each round of combat would likely be more varied.  More legitimate options for actions and bonus actions will lead to less "illusion of choice" and ultimately better gameplay and class design.

I like the per-round points usage and the martial stances. I would suggest that changing a stance could be done as a bonus action but would require a focus point. This would mean a less-awesome combat round and require some thinking about if it is worth it to change the stance.

I gave my suggestion for an overhaul of the OneD&D Monk over in the "Pugilistic Propositions" thread.

The concept of a per round point pool to work with is good.  A few of the point spenders are a bit much.  If you decide to go nova, you could be doing two to three extra attacks per round every round, forever.  With fine tuning this could be quite good.

Maybe just keeping it to 2 points to start and get a third later in level.  Then you might, change a stance, flurry, stunning strike(let it use one point) in a turn.  Or realize you are in danger switch defense, patient defense, and bank one for deflect attack.  Getting up to 5 per rounds seems just a little too high.

Even just one point for the first few levels wouldn't be bad. You would have to commit a little bit to your current goal, and have to choose if you want to lose a turn of increased damage or defense to have it available the next round.  Leave yourself in defense to tank better, or start In mobility to get into combat quickly, chase down a caster and get into a good position.  There are layers that could be unpacked with this concept.

Probably would work well with having an ability to gain 1 focus per short rest (two at higher level) for a burst round similar to similar to fighter.

HeroZero,

Glad you see the potential for the monk to adapt to the battle field. The point totals for spending and generating are definitely up in the air, and they're something I'd like to play around with at our table. I've been wondering if the initial Stance should be chosen upon rolling initiative and not taking an action to activate. Most classes in D&D suffer from action taxes to get up and rolling, so maybe having that first Stance decided upon initiative will help the monk get off to a quicker start. 

My initial thoughts on 2 points per round was that you would pay 2 points for 2 unarmed strikes for flurry of blows which is essentially what the monk already pays in ki and bonus actions already. I had thought to tie the key point expenditure to the Attack action since it's likely something you're already doing, and wouldn't it be nice if something didn't key off of a Bonus Action? The assumption of a Stance for activating powers outside of 'combat' I don't think is too problematic, since you should essentially be able to maintain any given Stance for free. 

Another thing that has bothered me with the current playtest version of the monk is that there are no subclasses or features that emphasize using Patient Defense. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts and giving your feedback.

My kind of thought is exactly that many classes DO have a ramp up round.  So why not lean into that early on, and make the decisions more tactical.  Giving more flexibility at like 4-6 and then later at like 12-14.  Obviously it would take a not insignificant amount of playtesting to get it nailed down to what works, and what is fun, and what is reasonable.