Monk

The Monk class, as it appeared in the D&D 3rd edition Player's Handbook.

A monk is a member of a monastic order who has taken vows to eschew the material world for a more "spiritual" path. In Europe this usually refers to a Catholic priest devoted to living a humble life separate from normal society in a monastery. In Asia, it's a Buddhist priest; in Islam it would be a sufi or dervish.

The medieval European monk is more in line with the Priest/Cleric class. Despite this fantasy gaming's usually setting in middle-ages Europe, the term "monk" usually refers to the Asian version of a monastery dweller, specifically from the Shaolin temples of northern China, who were self-organized into a legendary militia to defend the temple against barbarian Mongol raiders. This is thanks to Dungeons & Dragons, which introduced the Monk class as a martial arts expert, much in line with kung-fu movies where people dance on bamboo leaves while beating each other up with super-fast punches and kicks.

With the proper feats and items, you can turn any D&D Monk into a veritable machine of death, destruction, and holy Jesus fucking Christ fists (3rd Ed Hint: The tripping line of feats + spiked chain) but that's only after you've gotten over the horrible hump of single-digit levels, and you will still be the fifth wheel in a party that has a Cleric or Wizard. You're better off using a Barbarian, Bard, Ranger, Swordsage... pretty much any other class if you're starting from level 1.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

The monk class seems to be an afterthought, even appearing last in the list of classes instead of in alphabetical order. The monk class required four ability score minimums, started with an average of (2d4 +1 CON bonus) 6 hit points and COULD NOT WEAR ARMOR... but had a natural AC of 9, whoop-de-doo. The oh-so-awesome unarmed combat licked taint, since even a magic-user could do more damage with darts, and do it at range. However, the powers they got at higher levels were over the top, with immunity to disease, poisons and eventually aging, AC that was better than plate while they're still naked, fists that counted as magic weapons for hitting ghosts and undead, nigh-invulnerability to falling damage, and the quivering palm attack that could make your target's heart stop immediately (or days later if you felt like it.)

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition

Monks: You're doing it right.

The monk was revamped and brought into line with the rest of the melee classes, but still treated as a weeaboo kung-fu master in a world of Merlins and knights. The power curve was more gradual and didn't start with suck, though it most certainly ended with it. They also got the "weapon proficiency: exotic" so they could use weird weeaboo horse-stickers and nunchucks, and their abilities were associated with this quasi-magic stuff called "ki." They're a tier 5 class, meaning that they are in the same pit of shame as the Healer, Soulknife, and unoptimized fighter. Why, you ask? Because anything they can do can be done with magic items that they probably won't even be able to use, they do shit for damage, their armor class is shit, and they can't hit shit (3/4ths BAB.) Oh, and they're the damn poster boys for MAD (srsly, just look at that page.)

Dungeons & Dragons 4e

The first Monks were an errata from Wizards, suggesting you could have a Monk class if you used a dual-wield Ranger build with a few changes to use "fists" as the dual weapon.

Monks were published in the PHB3, and they are a Psionic Striker. They are built to bounce around the battlemap with every strike, shifting and teleporting all over the damn place like a rubber ball fired out of a shotgun. Monks use ki focuses to power their abilities, meaning they can get attack bonuses regardless of the weapon they are wielding at the time. They also have "disciplines", which confer defense bonuses and determine the type of Flurry of Blows they have. Instead of Flurry of Blows being multiple attacks, it is a second attack as a free action after the first that doesn't require an attack roll and does set damage (so a melee magic missile without the 'force' keyword). As your level progresses, you can do more damage with the flurry and target more people.

Monks also have some abilities that are bound to be errata'd soon, including one that when read as written results in one of your targets exploding into a pile of gibs, and the other possibly gibbing too, but at the least will be near-dead.

Warhammer Fantasy

Monk was one of the career choices during character generation, mentioned in the splatbook Tome of Salvation. This is the European style monk, living a ascetic lifestyle in a setting where life is nasty, brutish and short.

• Stat Bonuses: WS+5, S+5, T+5, Ag+10, Int+25, WP+15, Fel+15, W+4
• Acquirable Skills: Academic Knowledge (Theology), Academic Knowledge x2 , Animal Care, Common Knowledge x2, Heal, Perception, Read/Write, Speak Arcane Language (Magick), Speak Language (Classical), Speak Language x2.
• Acquirable Talents: Linguistics.
• Gear: Prayer Book, Religious Symbol, Robes, Writing Kit.
• Previous careers can be: Friar, Initiate, Physician, Scholar, Scribe, Student
• Next careers can be: Abbot, Apprentice Witch, Cantor, Cult Acolyte of Khorne, Cult Acolyte of Nurgle, Cult Acolyte of Slaanesh, Cult Acolyte of Tzeentch, Demagogue, Friar, Physician, Pilgrim, Priest, Scholar, Slave, Steppes Nomad, Steward, Thrall, Wise Woman, Zealot