4-elements Monk

[Asisreo1]

That is how they play though, so ‘partial caster’ is a potentially valid description by which others may use the synonymous ‘one-third caster’ even if the actual spellcasting ability is not present or identical.

If warlocks didnt have pact magic, only cantrips and invocations could they still be considered spellcasters? I would argue yes.

But throwing out the caster idea there are still no choices available to a 4E monk that doesnt demand Ki expenditure, which is a problem.

And anecdotally still a very restrictive number of disciplines available to you at any given time.

Well, in technicality warlocks are not spellcasters, they're pact magic casters. They also share similarities but I'll leave that aside as well.

How is that a problem? Any spell that doesn't require Ki expenditure becomes 2 things, a default or useless. If you could cast burning hands rather than attack, why would you ever attack? You can't factor flurry because that costs precious Ki. Essentially, you're a better spellcaster because you get to do these things for free. Or, you get something that's cantrip level like firebolt which is a worse option than using your darts because there's no dex mod added and it uses your secondary ability instead of your primary one. When you get to 5th level, you're doing 2d10 which is okay? But you could be doing 2d6 + dex*2 so it's still a poor option.

You could give them something unique but not too strong. Something that gives good flavor. But we already have elemental attunement. Once anything becomes better than your default action of attack twice with martial arts, it should expend ki points.