lots of good info in this thread, but I think SE has us running around in circles trying to min/max when it really doesnt matter. str and vit contributes to different styles of tanking i think...

however, being a noob lvl 30 gladiator (and not even a paladin yet), i went 100% strength for the lvling process and will reassess when the time comes

up to this point, i have found my tarutaru hp pool to be sufficient, and my deaths were not due to being 1 shotted (heck, there werent even that many mobs in FF11 that could 1shot my tarutaru hp pool - and our hp pool was seriously nerfed back then), and while the str may only add tiny nearly nonexistent damage, it does add to overall damage. i actually think we have all the damage mitigation we need... rampart and convalescence one after another should be able to keep us up through any massive rush of damage...

who knows... on with the theory crafters and launch those excel spreadsheets! =)