[Eclipse]

Basically, how some games handled it was...

If Strength + Coordination? or + Agility? or whatever = attack power...then you would also add the mods given by weapons.

So for classes that used their fists, they were given mods built directly into their attributes to award for discipline trainng. So, for example, if a normal fighters attack power was based on Strength...a monk's attack power could be based on Strength + something else. Or, a Monk could learn an ability akin to self-discipline/martial arts (wouldn't be mandatory, if the monk would rather use weapons) that acted as if their fists and feet were weapons in and of themselves.

It could work, and it diefinitely would not have to gimp the class. All it would do would be to make the monk the class who least depends on gear, which I think is a really attractive feature for a game that is going to be very "item-centric".

-Eclipse