nameless said:
My point isn't necessarily that monks are walking nerf fotballs, just that their role is served better by other classes or multiclasses. Rogues also get tumble, and Sneak Attacks are definitely effective against wizards.
Only with time or help. If Joe Rogue tumbles through the enemy front lines to get to Evil Wizard, he only gets to sneak attack EW if EW is deprived of his Dex bonus or flanked. JR can't flank EW by himself, and getting EW flatfooted beyond round 1 is tough. THe only way the rogue can do it by himself is to feint (Bluff) then attack. Barring
boots of speed or help from an arcane spellcaster, JR needs two rounds to do that, which gives EW a whole action to do something to remove the problem rogue. And JR's Fort and Will saves are poor.
The monk, OTOH, can tumble in, spring attack, stun the wizard (poor Fort saves!), and tumble out, and has better saves to defend against those pesky
holds and
disintegrates (never mind spell resistance at higher levels).
OTOH, it can be tough to play a monk effectively. I think playing a monk requires a bit more thought (especially with regards to tactics) than playing a fighter or rogue. The campaign where I played a monk is on hiatus; while playing, though, we didn't get past 5th level, and we faced all of one enemy arcane spellcaster in play. So I had to work to feel like I was contributing -- mostly, I tumbled around to try to setup flanking situations so the rogues could get sneak attack damage or the barbarian could get flanking bonuses (so she'd hit and deal her party-best damage, despite the player's bad dice rolls). It got to the point in a couple of fights that all I did was tumble and Aid Another. But I had fun, and the other players had fun.
As for the original poster: your GM is goofy.