I must be doing monks wrong...

Crawler

I've always thought monks were a cool class but every time I put one in a party they seem really weak. I'm not sure if I've just been missing vital items that make them stronger or if I just make their stats to low (I try to scale my characters to be like those in the BGEE games). To me, monks seem to be most similar to fighters or fighter/thieves, both of which I find to be far more effective. Any advice or recommendations? I'd be happy to hear anything you have to suggest. Thanks.

Grond0

Monks are weak at low levels, but they get comparatively better as levels increase.  In IWD though they're probably always best used as a support character rather than main tank - their long reach allows them to attack enemies over the top of another character.  At high levels they also have good stealth for scouting and their magic resistance and specific immunities help them in combat with casters.

Skatan

Have them using darts for a long, long time until they can be given enough items and levels to actually be worth letting into melee. I love monks from a thematic POV, but I find them to be utterly useless due to their MAD and low AC/THAC0/HP until at least they reach their teens. Dark moon monks gets blur and mirror image which make them more sturdy at an earlier stage than vanilla or sun soul monks, though I've never really played one for a prolonged period. Playing a monk feels like being permanently stuck in a dual class transition until they finally start to come into fruition at mid/high levels.

sarevok57

in IWD you are going to want to be a good alignment because there is one item they will direly need: the simmering sash, which will give them a +3 AC bonus, plus you can pick pocket the ring of pro+2 from oswalt? i believe further making their AC go down, and if you get lucky and get boots of the fox in dragon's eye ( good luck with that ) that gives them another AC bonus

since the EEs there is a monk specific item on the.... 4th level of dragon's eye, a pair of bracers that make it so you do more damage with your fisties, so pick that up

in the severed hand, if you give the priestess the holy water she will give you a helm like item that gives +1 ac and cha, wear that as well

and as stated before, monks are weak sauce at early levels, once they hit level 9 they finally get a +1 fist, and with the above items they will have some decent AC 

now based on the "I try to scale my characters to be like those in the BGEE games" that nonsense has to be thrown out the window for a monk, to be useful a monk needs to be cranked in all the right areas or else all you are doing is penalizing yourself ( in the vanilla bg games there was no monk for joinable companions probably for this reason )

so an 18 STR/DEX is a must and preferably 18 CON only because that gives you a couple of points to sacrifice if need be to increase STR or DEX down the road ( if you can get your monk up to 19 STR there will be a huge damage difference between 18 and 19 so get that STR up )

now as i was saying, level 9 is when you are finally going to see that yer monk is getting a bit better, but will still be lacking, then when they reach 15 they will finally seem to be catching up to your melee chums with only being a hair behind, its level 18 though is when they really start becoming noticeable and finally start surpassing your melee chums with incredible AC/save/MR/APR/to damage and all that good stuff, only problem is, you probably won't be level 18 until sometime 70% through the way of HoW

TBH monks are much better in SoA since you start off at that higher level and just how the items and game mechanics ( like hell trials and the like ) just favor monks so much more than IWD does, now with that being said, that doesn't mean a monk can't be good in IWD, it's just a little bit harder thats all

monks in IWD are more for people who are tired of playing the same old classes again and again over and over and need something new to help keep it fresh

DreadKhan

Yeah, not easily nabbing 19 str for a monk is brutal, as is the +2 cons bonus max, and the lack of fractional strength. I don't personally think Monks are as strong as other classes, but they can make a playthrough more interesting, particularly because you need to find useful contributions they can make, despite being weak, especially at low levels. Even at higher levels, they are hard to make as good as a fighter, and their other skills are pretty dubious. I like Sun Soul in IWD, it can be somewhat useful vs the endless hordes of undead early, making them feel less burdensome. 

Don't take a Monk to powergame as people have said, take it so you have a really different and challenging character, just like BG1 frankly, which is begging for any Monk love at all. At least IWDEE seems to offer tacit Monk support.