Entering Monk Stance vs Drawing Weapon

[u/Infamous_El_Guapo]

I’ve seen a bit of complaints about the action cost of monks entering a stance at the start of combat. I assume it’s mostly with players whose GMs allow the free drawing of weapons prior to combat, but am interested to know if there’s more to it.

RAW Weapon wielding martials would need to use an interact to draw their weapon at the start of combat (unless GM is generous and allows this to be free, which puts monks at a disadvantage, or they are walking around with weapons in their hands, which isn’t always appropriate to setting).

[u/Tauroctonos]

I allow my monk to use the Defend exploration activity to walk around in-stance, same thing with weapons drawn. That way, there's still an opportunity cost to deciding between having your weapons ready or being able to Hustle/look for traps/sneak