I have leveled my little taru pld to 44 in a set pt with friends. I have to agree it is great fun. I initially decided to lvl pld because I thought I would look highly cute in the AF...but it is fun. Go all out with HP/MP gear though....Luckily most of that isn't THAT expensive. I was happy to see that. I originally bought my bloodbead amulet for SMN lvl 20 battles, and still wear it for my pld.
I actually tried RSE for a short time in my 30s, and discoverred that I preferred the german armor much much more than the RSE. And, I was lucky that I borrowed that armor from my friend who had just upgraded his PLD armor. Since I normally play mage jobs, it took a while for me to get used to casting while getting hit, but .....
I have been experimenting with my friends, and my DEF and VIT is really only a few points off theirs at that lvl (HUME and GALKA)...galka has HUGE advantage over me with HP....but, with all my HP gear it is not as bad as I thought it would be...and even he admits that I do a decent job holding hate (he's a taru BLM in my set). AND, I don't die that often...mainly because the whm spams cures on me constantly and the other melee all have sub nin. Good luck and have fun.