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.
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