Best Monk class?

Quartz

Feel free to discuss which is your favorite Monk class and why … both for role-playing AND for meta-gaming reasons. I finally decided to play a monk, and went with a Dark Moon Monk, and it's going decently. I do feel the sting of lacking stunning blow though. I'm not afraid to restart however, and I'd be interested to see which kit (or lack there of?) people say is best and why.

Kamigoroshi

For roleplaying purposes?
Drunken Master!

For meta-tavern-gaming reasons?
Drunken Master!

For replaying purposes other than Drunken Master headcanon monk characters in BG:EE/BG2:EE/IWD:EE?
A Frosty Journey and Monastic Orders of Faerun offer various new Monk kits.

But if you're stricktly asking whatever official Monk kit I like the most, then my answer is the Dark Moon Monk. Mainly for it having much better flavour than the other two choices.

mumumomo

Mechanically i would say dark moon monk.
detect illusion is great, especially if you play solo.
Mirror image is also a valuable addition.

JuliusBorisov

I'm rooting for the Dark Moon monk too.

Detect Illusion is a really useful skill that allows you to pierce through the illusion spells casted by the enemy mages. It helps a lot in BG2 and in BG1 with the SCS. Spell immunity: Divination doesn't protect against it.

Blur and Mirror Image make the monk much harder to hit by enemies.

And she still can use the Quivering Palm.

joluv

I think DMM is strongest in BG2EE, for the same reasons others have mentioned.

For IWDEE though, I prefer SSM. Detect illusion is less important in that game, there's an item that gives you permanent blur, and being able to deal reliable fire damage is really useful early.