Monk Race/Twinkage...

[Deckk]

So, in my never ending quest to experience pretty much every class that I want before choosing which I'm going to roll with... (I'm currently leveling my druid, who I REALLY think is going to be my money making character)...

I've decided that I do want to play a monk at some point. For craps and giggles I rolled one on Live (silver membership) to play while I have med time on p99. Went Froglok. LOVED it. I played EQ in 99 and monk is one of the classes I never really experienced.

I realize things like stone throw and elbow strike aren't in the p99 version of the game, but still, monks are pretty fun.

So, my question is a tired one that's been asked... But I think I'm asking from a somewhat different angle...

What race should I make?

Let me explain why I'm coming at this from a different angle:

Iksar is obviously the better overall choice. AC bonus and regen plus forage is pretty awesome for a monk. The strike animations don't bother me much. The problem with the iksar is accessibility... I can't really leave the region because I need to train my skills in Cabilis (though the same can be said for human needing to train in Qeynos/Freeport only). I'd be KoS virtually everywhere on the iksar as well. And, for twinking purposes, getting items to Field of Bone is a much larger hassle than Qeynos or Freeport. And of course, the xp penalty.

So, to all of you monks out there... Is all of the hassle worth rolling an iksar? Humans are definitely more boring and less optimal, but it seems that the ease of travel, lack of town restrictions and the lesser xp penalty are a major bonus to going human.

As far as the second part of my question is concerned:

For twinking purposes, I was thinking about getting a FBSS (it'll be awhile before I can afford one) and maybe a couple of Wu's staves and then just letting my character acquire the rest of the items on his own. Anyone tried anything similar?