OK when playing a monk they arn't very good at the low levels which means that I will have done most of the quests before he gets powerfull. Is that the case. I don't want be hauling dead wieght around. Also who's the best good mage?.
Warby

I've found that the monk is pretty good right from the start, especially since he advances levels pretty quickly. The stunning blow is amazingly useful, and his fists are awesome as weapons (he gets a ton of attacks, and they do pretty good damage even early on). Armor is not a problem either, since his armor class drops so quickly. I can assure you that the monk will be powerful almost right from the start, and will not be "dead weight" by any means.

in general, they suck

250, could you please refrain from posting such ignorant comments? All the classes are pretty well balanced (except for the Sorcerer.. hehe), and can excel within their limitations.

Post at least a reason, or valid argument as to why you feel they are not a good class, rather than useless garbage like your above post.

Thank you.

Contrary to 250's opinion, IMHO Monk's do NOT draw vacuum.

They move like lightning, gain levels extremely fast, are capable of dealing out tremendous amounts of damage and can use a wide variety of magical items including all of the mage wands in the game! And the Monks special abilities are awesome. Their relatively poor starting AC gets better a LOT faster and there are enough items in the game that they can use, that AC was never an issue for me.

Personally, I think the Monk is a great class and far outshines several of the other kits.

In BG1, they would suck since their ac would be immense, but in BG2 they start at around about the point they begin to become worthwhile. they have trap finding, although not trap removal, are awesome in close combat, get massive resistances and go up levels quite quick.

It is even possible to solo with a monk, and doing this will probably end up with more money left over than you would think possible. no need to buy weapons, armour, spells, anything really.

the best good pure mage is nalia. (im not arguing over 5000XP in thief). if you want a better theif component, then imoen is good. (im also not crying over the time she spends absent).aerie is one of the most versatile NPCs you can have, since she can use both cleric and mage spells.

there are far to many mage/theives in this game, dont youthink? would be far better if their was only one, and say, a monk to replace them.