Just a quick question: I am starting with a new party and want to try a Svirfneblin Monk. With the +3 ECL will he be a viable character in a 6-person party? What lvl can I expect to get him to throughout the normal game? The only other ECL character in the party is an Aasimar Paladin so most of my characters will be leveling at a normal pace. Any advice would be appreciated.

What does +3 ECL mean?

If it has anything at all to do with a levelling up penalty (slower levelling up)then : DO NOT DO IT!

Exponentially the monk becomes more powerful as he/she levels up, so it is imperative to be able to level up as per normal.

Yes, ECL means they level as if they were x levels higher...so deep gnomes level as if they were 3 levels higher.

HOWEVER, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try it. Svirfneblin get many bonuses that are very useful for monks, including +2 to dexterity (possible starting of 20 dex), +2 to wisdom (which is useful for saving and AC as well), and +4 to AC. They also get permanent nondetection, +1 to hit against various enemies (including goblins, which will be useful early), natural spell resistance of 11+level, +2 to all saves, invisibility once per day, +2 to hide (+4 when inside), and other things.

They DO have some disadvantages. That 3 ECL thing really hurts...actually I've heard that monk is about the only reasonable class with Deep Gnomes, due to the automatic things that they get. They also get -2 to strength (which you can deal with), -4 to charisma (don't have them leading your party...but then, if you've got to have a character leading that's going to refuse treasure, it might as well be a Paladin)...

I'd say go for it. If it doesn't work, oh well, you've learned, if it does, awesome.