[andrewas]

Monks are a poor choice for a first character, as they are very weak in the beginning. A pure fighter, or a paladin or ranger might be better. Or a kit/multiclass including a strong fighter component.

But if you insist, keep the monk out of melee to begin with, once you start getting the levels up your AC will drop and you should be able to kick ass after level 10 or 11. Not much you can do about melee damage, keep your strength up (and remember monks have no bonuses for CON>16, which frees up some more points for STR) and dont get stuck into a prolonged brawl with something you cant damage much, let the other tanks take care of it.

After level 14, you get MR, and eventualy the monk becomes one of the best mage killers available. With a MR above 100% (needs some equipment to get it that high) a monk will shrug off the majority of magical attacks, although the smarter mages of tactics will use lower resistance and such, or smart targetting to pick on someone more vulnerable. But in the unmodded game, monks rule vs mages.

In the late game of course, the monk is nigh on unstoppable.