Leveling 1-55 as a RDM tank by Raya

==Overview==
I had heard all about the viability of Red Mage (RDM) as a formidable tank at the maximum level. I wanted to see if it were viable, or even at all possible, to do this at lower levels. Therefore, I tried it. My memories of FFXI from 2004 were that you could play jobs in unconventional ways and I thought this could be a good challenge. Starting on the EDEN server, Red Mage tank was my first and primary job.
As a further limitation I tried my best to advance through camps as my level did. Beginning at level 11, I progressed through the world traveling to camps according to my level, as opposed to sticking to one camp and repeatedly level-syncing down and repeating the same easy content.
This led to some interesting camp locations, and I got to see the full evolution of how RDM tanks at each level. My personal findings were that, although it won't outshine several DDs with /NIN rotating tanking duty, Red Mage is a surprisingly legitimate and viable tank for leveling, with an interesting, extremely active play style where you are constantly managing buffs, cooldowns, and trying to balance between enmity generation and maintaining enough MP. While leveling I got a lot of comments of surprise on how effectively a RDM can tank.
However, red mage tank seems only viable up until level 55, and at this point it drastically falls off. Although it's still possible to tank for colibri (aht urghan) parties, at this point in the game the pace of each fight dramatically accelerates and Red Mage struggles to generate enmity at a quick enough pace. Although there may be a viable strategy post-55, I was unfortunately not able to find it. 
== How does it stack up compared to other tanks? ==
Red Mage gets less defense and vitality than PLD, and a smaller shield, however, RDM gains access to enfeebles, phalanx, stoneskin, as well as a greater amount of evasion gear and some niche options which PLD, NIN or WAR don't have available. NIN gets utsusemi and is therefore better in short fights, but RDM has far better mitigation for any fight when you actually get hit.
With it's self-cures, RDM plays similarly to PLD. RDM also has access to crowd control options, from very early on, and of course refresh after 41, both of which these tanks lack. Finally, Red Mage's greatest strength is it's unmatched enmity generation. Red Mages' only limit to the amount of enmity they can generate is their MP.
Overall I'd say RDM tank outperforms PLD but underperforms NIN, simply because it is very hard to outclass utsusemi's excellent damage negation.
== Generating Hate ==
Blind, Provoke, and Paralyze are your bread and butter threat generation and casting these spells is how you want to start every fight. Following that, cure spells are your major tool for maintaining enmity. The majority of mobs will only require the aforementioned spells. But in addition, you can add Bind, Sleep, and Sleep 2 for greater amounts of threat as your mana allows. It doesn't matter if you miss a spell, it will still give you the full enmity amount even on a miss.
Casting your various buffs during battle (phalanx, refresh, stoneskin, blink, blaze spikes, en-spells) is a decent source of enmity generation. You have to cast these buffs anyway, and your auto attacks do very little damage, so you might as well cast them during the fight. Out of these phalanx and stoneskin are the most essential spells if mana is tight. The Spike spells can be a good source of damage/utility, and casting them gives a little more enmity than the average spell, but the damage they give unfortunately doesn't actually generate enmity, and this goes for en-spells as well. 
If you are curious about exact values, there is a table listing the enmity generated by the various spells here, and it seems to be the one EDEN uses: https://web.archive.org/web/20081224025202/http://kanican.livejournal.com/21727.html
== Equipment to Consider ==
Notes: I'm not including all possible BIS gear here, just the ones I think provide noteworthy or interesting stats. If a slot isn't listed, simply pick whatever has the best DEF/DPS/etc.
I tended to heavily prefer gear and food which improves damage mitigation. Perhaps there is another way around it, but I found I was doing a hopelessly small amount of damage and attempts to improve it didn't seem very fruitful.
=== Levels 10-19: ===
Compound Eye Circlet (9, Head)
* Simply amazing amount of evasion for this level
Hope Earring +1 (10, Ear)
Legionnaire's Mittens (10, Hands)
Traveler's Mantle (12, Back)
Light Soleas (13, Feet)
Stamina Ring +1 (14, Ring)
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Battle Gloves (14, Hands)
* Solid stats
Warrior's Belt +1 (15, Waist)
Bomb Ring (16, Ring)
* Hard to evaluate compared to the +2 VIT rings, perhaps only marginally better; cheap.
Scentless Armlets (16, Hands)
* Great amount of evasion
Power Sandals (18, Feet)
* Fantastic amount of VIT, which we sorely need.
Brave Belt (18, Belt)
* 1 point less VIT than Warrior's Belt +1, but as I recall this is much cheaper.
Tough Belt (18, Belt)
* BIS but good luck finding it. Might be out of era.
=== Levels 20-29: ===
Baron's Chapeau (20, Head)
* This isn't very large an improvement relative to it's big cost, but it is very pimp and the look fits a red mage. When you are wearing this, it will seem natural as though god intended red mages to tank at level 20. Gives 2% increase in enmity and a bit higher chance to hit with black magic, although note that we do get the same enmity even on a miss.
Royal Footman's Trousers (20, Legs)
Nomad's Mantle +1 (24, Back)
Empress Hairpin (24, Head)
Mythril Earring +1 (24, Ear)
Shade Armor Set +1 (25, Multiple Pieces)
* BIS but sadly rarely made because the stat increase is marginal and the materials are somewhat obscure. Fantastic for Promyvion.
Kingdom Trousers (25, Legs)
Savage Gauntlets (27, Mithra RSE Hands)
* +4 VIT is very nice. I only play Mithra so you'll have to do your own research on which of your RSE is worth it.
=== Levels 30-39: ===
Centurion's Scale Mail (30, Body)
Mercenary's Earring (30, Ear)
* You won't beat +2 VIT in this slot for a long time. Latent only works if sub is set to /WAR.
Midnight Cape (30, Back)
Republic Scale Mail (34, Body)
Drone Earring (35, Ear)
* These give +3 AGI. That means 1 (.5) points of evasion, parry, block, and ranged accuracy. I can't say for certain because these things seem difficult to actually measure, but I think that all that together is more mitigation than the +3 evasion alternative.
Medieval Collar (35, Neck)
* BIS for a long while
High Breath Mantle (36, Back)
* Very cool and powerful piece. Gives 5% enmity and 38 HP, but you must use one of it's 50 charges every 30 minutes. I bought one and still haven't finished it despite extensive use.
Verve Ring +1 (36, Ring)
* +3 VIT rings.
=== Levels 40-55: ===
Duel Rapier (43, Sword)
* 10 parry is incredible.
Brigandine Armor +1 (45, Body)
* The famous, one and only
Magic Cuisses (48, Legs)
* An interesting option that is usually very cheap and allows you to have greater accuracy on your spells.
Gaia Doublet +1 (52, Body)
* A clear step up from Brigandine with a ton of VIT, but somewhat obscure
Warlock's Boots (52, Feet)
* The warlock set has some incredible stats for tanking, and in most cases each piece completely eclipses what else is available at that level. Definitely pick it up!
Warlock's Gloves (54, Hands)
Royal Knight's Aketon (55, Body)
* Cheap alternative to Gaia Doublet
Musketeer Commander's Shield (55, Shield)
Earth Staff (51, Staff)
* In my testing I found that the 20% PDT results in a net enmity gain because while using this staff you will lose a smaller amount of enmity (by being hit for less damage) than you can gain by damage with a sword. And 20% less damage seems better mitigation than any shield can possibly give you. Be warned that if you use this you're essentially deciding to pretty much forego doing any damage.
Royal Guard's Fleuret (55, Sword)
* Made just for you 
Republican Army Mantle (55, Back)