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I’m for Paladin/ Red Mage, post 37, which is when Paladin gains their second “Provokeâ€. This second “Provoke†is a spell called Flash, which blinds an enemy for a few seconds and lowers its accuracy.
Flash is not even close to Provoke. Plus, WHM's have this spell as well and good ones will use it if someone is taking a crapload of damage (and the PLD's Flash isn't up). This essentially makes you an even worse tank than a WHM.
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Now *most* leaders won’t invite a Paladin/ -Anything but Warrior- for three good reasons.
One is Provoke (Level 5 Warrior ability), which “Provokes†the enemy towards the “Provokerâ€.
Two is Defender (Level 25 Warrior ability), which boosts your defense (Which is very important for tanking) and lowers your attack.
Three is a boost in base defense, second only to a Paladin sub, which you cannot do for obvious reasons.
You've neglected to mention that Warrior gives an Attack Up Bonus and Double Attack also. As an extremely defensive job, a bit of extra damage is needed to help control hate. No, PLD is by no means a DD, but some damage will help. A PLD/RDM will likely to very little, even with EN_ spells (I don't believe that EN_ damage results in hate, which removes the whole point of casting them for PLD).
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Phalanx
Relieves 20~25 damage per hit, for about 5 minutes.
Stoneskin
200 *free* damage at the start of fight, which gives mages time to debuff the mob without having to worry about tank’s health.
En- Spells
+10 damage each attack, very useful for a Paladin. Better hate with this extra damage, especially if it’s balanced to the mob’s elemental weakness.
I'm not sure where you came up with your numbers, but they are not correct. Each spell you list varies depending on level. Phalanx and Stoneskin prevent damage based on Enhancing Skill and level, EN_ spells do also with the addition of monster weakness.
Before you jump the gun, yes PLD have a good Enhancing Skill rating. But the simple fact of the matter is that with PLD/WAR you'll be taking less damage than a PLD/RDM with all the defensive spells up.
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Bar- Spells
Helps against things such as Bombtoss, very useful if used correctly.
The mages in the party should be casting this, there's no reason for a PLD to cast it.
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Fastcast
Get an extra Flash in there, an extra Cure.
The only spells PLD really cast are Flash and Cure's, which are very fast. Once you play PLD awhile you will discover the appropriate timing to Cure without getting interrupted.
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Magic attack bonus
Stronger Holy, more hate.
No. PLD should not cost Holy...ever. It's 100 MP for a very weak nuke. Unless you're a Tarutaru PLD, you do not have 100 MP to spare on such a weak spell. Sometimes it can be nice to try to end a fight for chain where you'll need to rest anyway, but in this case you'll rarely have 100 MP anyway.
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Blink
Capped will give you 3 shadows, depending on level.
Blink shadows do NOT automatically absorb hits. Blink is
NOT Utsusemi. It gives you 3 shadows that CAN be hit instead of you, this will not always be the case. A monster can and
will hit you through Blink, making this a useless expenditure of MP.
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Clear Mind
Rest MP faster, very important.
You do not get this until 62. You get Dark Staff at 51. Clear Mind gives you 1-2 extra MP per tick...making it completely useless at 62+.
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More MP
Less resting, an extra Flash, an extra Cure.
Not worth the extreme handicap.
All in all, there is just no substitute for a subjob for Paladin other than Warrior. Take this from a 62 RDM and a 73 PLD...it won't work. As a Paladin your job is to draw the absolute maximum amount of hate that you can while taking the least amount of damage that you can...an RDM sub does not help you do either of these things.
