Swordsage vs Monk...

[Frosty]

I'm been trying to figure out a fix for the monk, and the more I work on it, the more I realize I'm giving features that resemble the Tome of Battle mechanics. Hence, my question: Should the Swordsage just replace the Monk? Is the Swordsage a better Monk?

[Xefas]

Yes, that's what it's intended to do. I do believe the Warblade and Crusader are also fixes for the Fighter and Paladin respectively.

They're more in line with the strength of casters, and are, in my opinion, a lot more fun to play, because the maneuvers give you more options and customizability...like how the casters can do with their spells.

[Arbitrarity]

Unarmed variant? Probably. Better than the current monk, balanced, and as long as you flavor it right, it most certainly will. It also has the potential to be a few other things, but it CAN make an excellent monk.

Most of the schools can be reflavored to fit aspects of the monk archetype, with the exception, possibly, of desert wind, unless you devote that to the external expression of your Ki or somesuch.

[Frosty]

I was working on a new Monk where a Monk gets Stunning Fist uses per encounter, not per day, and Stunning Fist can be used in a variety of ways. For example, a Monk can use a charge of Stunning Fist to flurry with a BONUS to attack instead of a penalty. A Monk can use Stunning fist to cause ABILITY DAMAGE instead of stunning an enemy. And a Monk can use a charge to perform super-human feats of mobility and agility to help it in battle.

It's kind of like a sorcerer in that way. It's Stunning Fist "pool" is spell points, and it can choose what abilities to do on the fly. The new Monk would also have Fighter BAB, bonuses uses of Stunning Fist and save DCs based on INT instead of Wisdom, and a skill list that resembles the Rogue skill list some more so it can be a skillmonkey as well.