Monk
April 4, 2017
15:30
The good news: Relatively cost-light (No weapons), doesn't fight other classes for equipment, scales naturally as the game goes on.  Best HP in the game, decent commands.
The bad news: Extremely little variety in gameplay/access to strategic options.  Physical damage only.  Scaling is almost entirely tied to level starts lagging behind other characters as time goes on.  EXTREMELY vulnerable to effects that cut effective level and stats
Strength
+26
Agility
+1
Vitality
+26
Magic
-23
Hands
Nothing
Armor
Medium Headgear
Medium Armor
Light Accessories
Command
!Kick
Abilities
!Kick
Deals a (slightly weaker than normal) attack to every enemy, essentially.  This does reduced damage to enemies according to rows, and unlike the Attack command, only deals a single hit; it's still powerful for taking on enemy groups.  Uniquely, this is the only skill that cannot be learned and transferred to another class. 
iOS: !Kick ignores both the user and enemy's rows in determining damage, which is generally a buff!  However, in this version it ignores the +50 power offered by Kaiser Knuckles.
Level
AP
Ability
Innate
Equip Stats
Description
1
15
!Focus
No
Sacrifices the turn to double the damage of your attacks next attack.  Technically this would be wasteful; however, when fighting bosses that counter physical attacks, use !Focus to reduce the number of total attacks being made against the boss without reducing your damage!
2
30
Barehanded
Yes
Strength +26
There's a section below about how Brawl works, so read up on the details there.  This is also the highest Strength transfer skill in the game.
3
45
!Chakra
No
Removes Poison/Blind from the Monk when used.  It also functions as a 30 Magic Power Cure on themselves, which unfortunately will be generally horrendous if the Monk doesn't have an ability increasing their Magic stat.  Its effectiveness is roughly twice that of the Cure spell, discounting the whole stats thing.
4
60
Counter
Yes
Grants a 50% chance to counterattack enemies when you suffer physical damage
5
100
HP +10%
No
These do exactly what they say on the tin when equipped.  Since the Monk already has huge base HP, +30% HP can easily be an extra thousand HP or more near the end of the game.  If you are in a Natural Class challenge, you should be using these when you don't need !Focus or !Chakra.
6
150
HP +20%
No
"
7
300
HP +30%
No
"
Brawl
Brawl enables reasonable unarmed fighting, and uses some completely different properties from normal attacks. Like any unarmed attack, you get two attacks per turn.  These also have an 8% chance of landing a Critical Hit, which doubles the base attack power and causes them to ignore defense, significantly amplifying the damage dealt. 
The Damage formula using Brawl looks like this:
(3 + (2*Level) - Target Physical Defense) * Multiplier (Strength, Slow)
What Brawl specifically adds is the level-based increase.  What you will find as you play Monk is that, for the most part throughout Act 1, your Weapon Attack will be on par - or even better! - than that of real weapons. However, as you enter into Act 2 and especially Act 3, this value will begin to fall behind, simply due to the difficulty of obtaining Experience (remember, many players will finish the game in their 20s or early 30s!)
Note that the slow multiplier growth more or less negates the two-attacks-per-turn aspect.
Note also that because level is used TWICE in the damage formula, a Chemist or Bard, who have the ability to increase the level of a Monk, are extremely valuable allies!
Finally, as you reach the end of the game, there is a very special piece of equipment!  The Kaiser Knuckles can be found as a drop from the Fall Guards in Istory Falls or the Pyramid in Act 3, or found in a chest in the Great Trench.  In addition to adding 5 Strength, the Kaiser Knuckles raise the base damage of the Monk's formula from 3 to 53 - essentially providing an extra 25(!) levels of attack power to that part of the formula.  This will be basically essential to any party come endgame, so do not miss out on it!
Success Strategy
Punch things in the face.  Punch MORE things in the face.  Possibly consider grinding, if you can find a good spot, even though normally you wouldn't do that much in FFV.
Because Monk is so reliant on level for its damage, effects that reduce the Monk's level will suck, such as the Dark Shock spell - more so than they usually suck.
Several enemies or bosses in the game respond dangerously to physical attacks - early bosses such as Galura just counter physical attacks with physical attacks, but in a place like the Fork Tower or the Great Trench, making a physical attack can get your party killed.  Don't be afraid to just have the Monk defend or use items instead of attacking.  If it's not a deadly counter, consider using !Focus to still deal full damage but only trigger half the counterattacks.  If you're not in a Natural Challenge, take advantage of abilities during these times.  If you are... well, enjoy your item throwing punching bag.
The Monk doesn't get a lot of the really cool options from equipable weapons that other classes do, but they are generally a heavily reliable attacker or at least an HP sponge throughout the game.