How would I go about making a Monk-like class in Baldur's Gate (not BG2)?

It won't work well. You need weapons to deal out damage and armor to avoid damage.

Baldur's Gate 1 is designed for low level characters. A monk is inherently weak at low levels. It simply doesn't make sense to want to build such a character in vanilla BG1. You could try the overpowered EE edition, I suppose, but why would you want to?

Is there a mod that adds the Monk class to BG1?

You need to be much more specific in your questions; details. For example, if you were to use TuTu/BGT you would be playing BG1 in the BG2 engine. Overpowered, but you would have access to the monk class. As for vanilla, why would anybody make such a mod? Like I said, they are very weak at low levels.

I was just asking if there was such a mod that adds the monk class to vanilla BG1; a simple yes/no question. (If "yes" then post where to find the mod; if "no", then too bad for me). As to your question of "why would anybody make such a mod", because some people would like to play the monk class. Simple as that. Also, I don't care about how weak/powerful a class is at low levels.

Then... no.

You can use the Monk class if you play the Enhanced Edition of Baldur's Gate. And I believe, as Hickory stated, if you do the engine conversion mods like Baldur's Gate Tutu or the Baldur's Gate Trlogy, you can too.

You can also play as a Monk using Baldur's Gate Trilogy, which combines both games into one continuous playthrough and runs on the BG2 engine. The only time I've ever played through BG1 was as a Monk. It's not as bad as people are telling you -- pretty tough for the first couple of levels, and you have to rely more on other party members than you would as a plain Fighter, but the same is true for someone playing a Mage.

Then, I'd like to ask some advice from you. I'd like to go through the game (Enhenced Edition) as a monk (since there's no Monk NPCs and it seems like an interesting class. Unfortunately, I heard that it makes your main character completely useless in the first game. Is there a way to make a monk useful in the first game?

Yes there is. Rasaad is a recruitable monk, and you can find him comparatively early in the game.

Well, that's the thing. I'd like to complete the game with the canon party.

Then BGT, BG Tutu, or Enhanced will be the only way you can have a Monk as the main. =)

I'm playing Enhanced right now with a Cleric/Ranger as the main and the canon party. I'm having a lot of fun, though I am stuck on a big fight in Chapter Five. So, I'm trying to gain a little more power by finishing off some of the side missions in the Gate.

Flynn

I know. I have the Enhanced edition. I was wondering if playing as a monk was feasable (since they're very weak at low levels and ridiculously powerful at high levels) and asking for some tips for playing the first game as a monk.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the 'canon' party contains no monks, and that includes player character. But I get what you mean. The problem is, regardless of what NotJabba says, a monk is pretty useless early game, unlike mages, who have other means at their disposal than melee. A monk cannot wear armour; cannot wear helmets; cannot use shields; only gets cleric XP & HD; can only use thief weapons (except staffs); must be lawful; must be human. There may be more restrictions that I cannot think of at this time. Not that any of those make any difference as the levels rise, and the monk's own abilities start to kick in. The problem is that in BG1 there is simply not enough XP to reach levels where a monk is worth a damn, unlike mages.

Edit: On the other hand... if you're not a power gamer -- I'm not -- then playing a monk would be fun, and a challenge. If you're not, then I say go for it.