Ok, I thought I'd voice a few little things at y'all, and see what you think.

1. The monk class. Is it just me or are all monks of the same level generally the same? You can have great diversity within the other classes, but monks have no real place to be diverse, other than the few thief points they get each level. All high-level monks are generally the same, with 18(or more) STR and DEX, at least 16 CON, and the same equipment (Gauntlets of Crushing, Ring of Gaxx, Ring of Protection +2, Cloak of Mirroring). You can take any other class and do many things with it, just look at the differences between each of the thieves in BGII, or fighters. You can have a fighter/archer, fighter/swordsman, fighter/tank etc, all within the same class, and I won't even go into how diverse the mages are... I still play a monk, but it's very lame to have to play the same monk as every other BGII player out there (with the exception of alignment, and the stats that don't matter to a monk).

2. Does anyone play a multi/dual class that hasn't been done? We've all heard about the kensai mage dual-wielding katanas. Next... Anyone done a kensai thief? Imagine the backstab with Kai Shot! Although it would be a little hard to Kai, stealth, and hit in the 12 seconds required... But a kensai thief would be very cool I think. He could backstab hard even without Kai Shot, and since he's faster (and has boots of speed ) he can hit hard and run before the enemy can draw a bead on him. And it would be a lot more fun to play than a nigh-invincible kensai mage, and you could level him up to 12, or more, in his kensai class and still have plenty of points to spend on thievery. But I'm really sick of the whole fighter/magic user thing in general (fireshield, stoneskin, mirror image... agh... way too cheap for me) and the kensai mage is just a culmination...

3. Who actually uses backstab for a thief? It's an underrated ability, but I've killed many big enemies with backstab... That one guy in firkraag's place with the sewer key took 124 damage with a backstab, critical with blade of roses +3 and 19 STR (girdle of hill giant strength, normally was . If you did the kensai thief, you could do even more...

I use back-stab all the time. My mage-thief uses stoneskin, strength, improved invisibility and other defensive spells before using her sword to back-stab. Even without enhancing her strength of 8 she managed 100 against a poor kobold commando. Overkill I know but such good fun. I use this ability mainly against other mages before they can cast stoneskin etc.

I noticed that on the beta bug fix it mentions a barbarian/ mage dual class which I didn't think was possible. If it is it sounds fun, as the eccentricity of contrasting a barbarian's personality with a studious mage could be intriguing.

Monks are a very good class. Not a lot of people play them (Fists? That's not a weapon!), so you can derive your individuality from that. They're strong, have excellent abilities, immunities, are fast as hell, do +3 damage with their fists and a great natural AC. What more do you want?

I've seen several people playing the kensai thief, and they say it's pretty good. I'd choose a fighter thief over a kensai thief though, for the armour and gauntlets. Kai doesn't really make a terrible amount of difference in the long run, and it is a pain to use because of the short duration. And I play a fighter/mage. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, it's a very popular choice in the AD&D world, and with good reason. Since arcane powers are available to anyone willing to work for them, it also makes a lot more sense than fighter/thieves, which almost lose too many abilities to make ends meet.

Almost every thief I know uses backstab. It's the only way for thieves to fight in melee and do any decent damage. Stock up on potions of invisibility and go in fighting. It certainly takes a lot more time than a regular fighter swing since they can only backstab once per round at maximum, but it's still very potent.

Monks are very good, they would be the type of character that you would nurse through the game early but then they start to rock in the higher levels. Fast, much better natural AC than a kensai, multiple attacks, can use some weapons, Quivering Palm (you heard about the guy who killed a dragon with one blow and posted the screenshots?), Stunning Blow, what else?

Kensai thieves can be cool, but the biggest problem with kensai anything is that he is so specialized. Kensai thieves can't even wear robes unlike kensai mages so you better make sure that who you're backstabbing is dead or you might soon be.

Backstab is one of the coolest abilities in the game and you'd be crazy not to use it if you were a thief. I had a stalker for my first game and I was using it all the time.

I think part of the problem with the Monk is that in the book, the Monk is listed by itself, but the book does say that the Monk is a "Fighter" who has devoted their life.......
It seems that it would be best to view a Monk as a "Kit" among the fighter class.
Monks can use Wands, so they do have a limited magical ability.

Backstab...Oooy, I love to send my thief "hidden is shadows", and pull a nifty "Backstab" with the +4 short sword of backstabbing whenever possible.

I generally stick to pure classes, since duals and multi's never achieve their highest potential in any class. Don't get me wrong, I like the concept, I just haven't done it.