[Olorin]

I played my first game through SoA with a monk. It's not a class to choose if you haven't played either BG or IWD before though. They start out very vulnerable. They cannot wear armor, so their AC is pretty bad, and they use the priest's hp rolls, so they can't take as much damage as a normal fighter. They also can't use any two-handed weapons, so they can't be a support archer. Once you level up a ways though, they become a workable tank. Use rings, cloaks, amulets, etc to boost AC, which also improves as they advance in levels. Their unarmed attacks increase in the amount of damage they can do (eventually becoming THE most damaging weapon in the game), and their fists become equal to enchanted weapons, allowing them to hit magical creatures.

At lower levels, use their stealth to get into melee range when a fight starts and activate stunning blow. It applies to all attacks for two rounds and gives a chance to stun on a hit. I always try to switch targets if I stun the first one to get the most out of the stunning blow charge. The stun doesn't last too long, but long enough for a few free hits. Once you use your stunning attack, have your monk go bother one of their archers or spellcasters, don't try to go toe to toe with enemy tanks (that's what Minsc is for).

Once you hit level 13, you will rock. You get quivering palm (use it and the next one attack has a chance to instantly kill the target). You only get one per day so use it wisely (stunning blows are added one per four levels). Also by this time, your AC will be down to decent levels and your attacks per round will be awesome--but you only get the extra attacks when fighting unarmed.

Level 14 is when it gets insane. You gain 3% magic resistance per level (it's retroactive, so you will suddenly have 42% magic resistance). Add to that your previous immunities to disease, charm, and poison; and mages have a hard time stopping you. Nor do their stoneskins last very long (keep a normal weapon around though, since your fists are magical weapons, so protection from magical weapons applies to them).

At high levels, your only drawback is your low number of hitpoints compared with fighter classes, but that's only a problem against enemies that actually live long enough to hurt you.

Soloing a monk can be tricky--you can detect traps, but not disarm them, locks will be a problem--you can't use potions of strength because you're a priest class, and you don't have a fighter's hp to eat the trap damage.