Very nice debate, but please guys, watch your temper, we are very close to flames now...
Keep in mind that all your opinions are based on your playing style, and unless you all play the game the same way and like the same things, none of you will be able to convince each other.
That being said, I would like to add some opinions to the discussion.
Personally, I like my monks to have as high a strength as possible, so that they can do lots of damages, since weapon finesse does not work for monks in this game. But there is hope for dexterity lovers. The latest
ease of use mod has a fix that allow weapon finesse to work for monks, and the cool thing about the ease of use mod is that you can chose what elements to install. So if you don't want any "cheats" in your game, you can still install the weapon finesse fix, since weapon finesse apply to monk's unarmed attacks in the official 3rd edition D&D rules.
Also, someone mentioned that monks have higher ac than normal, so that compensate for their low hitpoints. I disagree. By the end of the game, about every ennemies have at least +20 to attack, so you will never evade anyway. And let's not even talk about HOF mode... In my opinion, in this game, the only thing that make difference is damage reduction.