Why Not Monk Mix-in?

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I been playing IWD II for the last couple of months, restarting over quite a lot trying to perfect my party of would be heroes (I normally play 4 characters in a party). The one thing that really stood out to me was the lack of good armor (normal mode) for fighter classes, and so they take quite the beating. As a result I decided to make a Drow Fighter (2) / Monk (3) / Cleric (X) and was pretty impressed with her ability to dish out damage (dual-wielding scimitars and short swords) while avoiding taking a lot of it in return. She always has more kills than a Fighter or Barbarian, and requires a lot less healing.

I also decided to make a Deep Gnome Rogue (3) / Monk (3) / Illusionist (X) and was equaling impressed at how this character avoids just about all damage. I am now trying out a Human Ranger (2) / Monk (3) / Druid (X) and so far I like him even better than my Drow Cleric.

As AC seems to be more important in IWD II than how much damage a fighter can deal out in one blow, why not make all pary members with one to three levels of Monk? The benefits seem to greatly out-weigh the disadvantages of lower primary class.

I been toying with the idea of a Human Paladin (4) / Monk (3) / Sorcerer (X), but I just can not get the stats to my liking, damn 16 points given at creation!

 

If a character doesn't have Wisdom as primary casting stat, and main advancement when leveling, then mixing in monk will do nothing for your armour class. Your cleric and druid will benefit, and for them it will be an effective replacement for actual armour. WIS AC bonus doesn't limit your maximum bonus from dexterity, which most armours do, so often it will even be better. Don't forget that you can cast Mage Armour on such a character too, meaning you'll get +4 AC from 'body armour' on top of it all, and it lasts for hours.
I'll just take a moment to repeat that taking too many mix-in levels is very bad for your progression in your main casting class. More than one monk level isn't necessary to get the desired effect. Every extra mix-in level you take, will set your main class back proportionally more than the previous level, so 3 levels monk is just really unnecessarily crippling. The first mix-in will set you back 15.000 points at level 15 (this is the amount of XP you're behind in level in your main class, compared to a pure-class character), the second mix-in costs you another 16.000 delay on top of that, the third mix-in will set you back 17.000 points, for a grand total of a 48.000 point delay. Wouldn't you prefer to be just 15.000 behind, rather than 48.000?
Your druid is the best character to do this with, because of its need for maximizing WIS, and because the WIS AC bonus carries over to shapeshift forms as well. Personally, I'm a supporter of the 'battlecleric' build, meaning advancement in combat stats is chosen over Wisdom. Without maximizing WIS when leveling, the AC bonus from WIS will decrease in usefulness, to the point that wearing armour becomes obviously better. Clerics can wear heavy armour, and if you're not going to give it to them, then who is going to wear the best armours you find? Some armours also give nice bonus effects, great for a battlecleric.
The Deep Gnome Illusionist you mention, is a big waste of mix-ins. Unless you gave it high WIS, which is unwise, then there will be no bonus to AC from WIS. It also gets the Evasion feat free from the 2nd rogue level, meaning all that this mix-in gave you, is a tiny bit of extra speed, and +1 AC vs. missiles. Both are pathetic bonuses, and the illusionist would have been 3 caster levels further, if you hadn't taken the monk mix-in. The DG race already has 3ECL, so any mix-ins must be considered very carefully, IMO.
The sorcerer with monk and paladin mixed-in is a good idea in principle; you get an amazingly high reflex save because of the DEX and CHA modifiers added to it, and the monk's Evasion feat will make you avoid most spell damage. BUT, there is no good reason to take more than one level mix-in of each. These 7 mix-in levels will have set you back a grand total of 126.000 XP at level 15, of which 95.000 is unnecessary.

 

Goldentivne, you know you can lower stats below 10? That gives you more than just 16 points to play with. INT is a popular dump stat for anyone except wizards.

 

I always take a pure monk with me, I've never tried a mix-in. I can see the point though. I don't think I'd use 3 levels however.

 

Another disadvantage of the 1 level monk mix-in is that the first monk level doesn't add BAB, so you'll only hit as good as 1 character level lower and also get extra attacks 1 level later.

Even worse is that casters also loose casting power with mix-ins, if you play a party consisting of your four monk mix-in builds, you'll get into enormous trouble when the enemies become harder, you'll be facing hard boss fights without having the tools available you're supposed to have at this moment.
You can't reach a level in a normal game without cheating where mix-ins are as good as pure casters.
Your drow Fighter (2) / Monk (3) / Cleric (X) is only a cripple compared to pure cleric.

 

I min stats that are not required to any of my builds to max required stats. I don't like doing this, but IMO you are really left with no choice. Your band of merry men are suppose to save all of IWD, so they should be more capable than an "average joe".

I max wisdom for any character I mix Monk in with, this for both improved AC and Will saves. Cast Armour and Cats Grace and their AC's are a lot higher than a pure Fighter or Paladin can ever hope to achieve.

With my play style I do not rely on arcane magic that often, so to me my Rogue/Mage becomes nothing more than an archer, a waste of a character (for my play style). Adding in Monk levels with max'ed wisdom, maxing Dexterity, and selecting Weapon Finesse while dual wielding daggers turns him into a character that can be swarmed and fight his way out of it easily (utilizing the DG's mirror image and blur if need be). If he gets too overwhelmed then he just drops a fireball on himself. To me, that is what a Gnome is all about: being more than how others perceive him to be, until it is too late.

My Drow Monk/Cleric has a slightly lower AC than my DG, but she hits a lot harder as I max her strength. She has always more kills than any of my other characters and is the one I use for the 8 chambers. She never has any issues.

I think a Paladin/Monk/Sorcerer build would probably be the best of them all, but I would need for he/she be human to avoid any experience penalty. Right now I am playing an Aasimar Paladin (4) / Sorcerer (X), which works fine as Paladin is her favorite class. Playing with 4 characters, and as she is in the number 1 slot (she gets the "left over" experience), I may add in a Monk level to see how she performs.

I know a lot of you disagree, and advise keeping all casters "pure", but coming up with a few creative builds really adds a lot of fun to this game and keeps it from becoming predictable.

 

If you've already finished the game and know what you're doing you can try out everything (especially if you use mods or exploits for levelling faster), for first time players such crippled parties are most likely a source of frustration which keeps them from finishing.

 

One especially horrible mistake caused by frequent restarting is the trust one places on warriors. Yes, they'll pretty easily carry you through most of Chapters zero to three, but they'll be far behind in power compared to casters pretty soon thereafter.