Not the intended use: Fighting initiate Unarmed fighting on a monk

[x3n0n]

I'd give it a 3/5. It's a nice boost earlier on and the fact you can swap fighter styles makes it flexible depending on the direction you go.

It losses one star because unless you are playing to the aesthetics of only using an armed strikes it's a pretty small damage boost. The new dedicated weapon feature also weakens it.

The second star is loss just due to how ability driven the monk is. Assuming point buy or SA, taking this means delaying dex which is also more damage while also increasing hit chance and the laundry list of other things.

Overall I would say take it if you want but it isn't a massive boost. Blind fighting for shadow and Archery for SS kensei are the exceptions I see.

Just to make sure I follow:

Take v.human Fighting Initiate: Unarmed, which improves your damage output from 1-3, and maybe to 7 or 11 for Open Hand, Drunken Master, Mercy, and Astral Self.
If Shadow (or in a heavy-obscurement party), trade for blind fighting at 4 (and compare to Alert; both have advantages).
If Kensei, trade for Archery at 4.
Otherwise, it's not clear what remaining FS was worth the opportunity cost of taking a better feat as v.human.

Yes?

Aside: while Unarmed is made less exciting by the Tasha's optional features, the Dueling fighting style gets *better* with Ki-Fueled Attack once Martial Arts catches up with your versatile weapon (since you'll often get a Dueling BA attack).