=) =) =)Follow

yes.

First of all, only sub summoner for a mana boost. Their summons will become useless, since your subjob can only be half of your main job (in other words, 35 max). Summoner as a main job is the most powerful job in the game, but only if you've gotten to 70 in another job and have gotten one of the advanced summons. You'll be able to solo just about anything level 1-70, and you can still operate perfectly in a party. However, subbing them for a mana boost is fine, since they'll increase your mana (something red mages could use) and mana regeneration. But keep in mind, you'll basicly be sacrificing the skills you'd get from black mage or white mage (I even hear bard is useful as a sub for red mage, but not as useful as blm or whm) for a TON of mana.

Secondly, if you find casting spells boring, I'd select either warrior or samurai for a subjob for monk. Subbing warrior would allow you to act as a backup tank, where samurai would allow you to do crazy damage.