In my honest opinion, and that may not be worth much as I do not have a monk
of respectable level, is that monks are the only class in which
effectiveness is not measured in equipment. Then my question is this, why
is there an equipment check everyday? I realize the theory of the week has
everyone swapping constantly, but so far, over a year of grouping with
different monks, I have noticed few changes (Pre Kunark) no matter what gear
was worn. I have observed that the only constants in the monk community
have been HP, AC, Resists for the solo monk, and Resists, HP, AC for the
grouped monk. I believe this reflects the creatures to be fought... a solo
monk would not fight a caster if given the choice, and a grouped monk
expects to be hit rarely, save for the casters that open up on the party.
Now please tell me if I am wrong, but this is what I have observed. Knowing
that agility really does nothing for your defensive skills, and adds little
to your AC, Stamina adds little to your HP, and strength adds to the damage,
but not the chance to hit, it really does seem that a move to AC and HP
would be best.

A monk friend of mine told me that he concentrates on HPs mainly, then on
whatever AC gear he can get to fill non HP areas. He says that most of the
resist gear he has access to is either too heavy, or is too weak to be worth
dropping more valuable HP gear for. I assume this will change with items
like the crown he was talking about.

Now for the real question... I have noticed a great number of monk weapons
in Kunark. I know that my friend has done no training in weapons, only Hand
to Hand. Are the new monk weapons worth the trouble? I say they would be,
and he still disagrees.