Quote Originally Posted by Skye-chan View Post
Actually, if you do that, you'll destroy the BB's natural defence. It'll get bumped down to 1, because that's all the defence that the Ribbon has. If you want the BB to wear armour, you have to either load him up completely so his defence is comparable to that of other characters, or just take everything off. It depends on his level.
No, it will only decrease his defense by a few points. As well, the Monk's defense depends on his stamina, not his level. If you like, I can dig up the statistics for you. I know they're available on GameFAQs.

On my current game, my Monk / Master has 73 bare defense. With a Ribbon equipped, it drops to 62. The Monk has incredibly low magic defense, though. The Ribbon helps to raise this, as well as adding resistance to various status effects. It's a must-have.