I figure monks are second only to casters in progression from worthless to uber. A 1st level monk makes for a pretty soft tank. If they survive to the upper-teens, they're nearly indestructible. I tend to think of them as the best class for lazy gaming. Equipment is largely pointless, they can be developed to be largely independent (unlike say a caster, which will need the occasional meat shield), and they take fear-of-dying right out of the equation.