Thanks for the advice.
I do understand they are not run-off-the-mill runes, but that is exactly why I ask. I now always pick:
Red: Armor pen / Magic pen
Yellow: Armor / Mana regen
Blue: A mix of magic resist (flat & /lvl)
Quint: Armor pen / AP
and a full AD page. Which brings me to 4 rune pages: Jungle ; AP ; Full AD ; ARP/Mp5/Mres
Because I'd rather not blindly stick to my usuals, I'd like to go for something else. I have trouble breaking out of that mold, because I can't see any other options. ArP because in the average game I play it means I can postpone my Armor Pen item to item #4 or #5. Manaregen because I hate Manamune & don't want to buy Philo Stone every game. Magic Resistance, because.. well.. what else for blue?
So as it is, I do value defensive runes quite high, they seem more effective in low lvl fights. But the ArP/Manaregen saves me gold on items (in my mind). Both my Nasus & GP have an illness called: "ONE. MORE. Q." ;-)
/edit:
Now you mention Vlad a couple of times in your post, maybe I should give him some loving. He was the first champ I bought, and he has fallen a bit out of grace with me. Don't think I played him since I've been lvl 30. Some health/lvl yellows, ap/lvl blues and movement quints might be fun indeed.
Maybe I should get the gold quints, but I kinda stopped playing support after the 5th Caitlyn who camps the brush to take potshots at Sona instead of minions.