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Why would anyone ever spend 100gp on a minor sturdy shield when a steel shield and minor reinforcing rune are only 75gp for all the same stats?
Maybe you're playing in a game with limited or no magic, so the rune is not available.
Also, it's 77 for the same stats: 75 for the rune, and 2 for the steel shield :)
But, if magic accessibility and cost are not issues, why are you not putting the Mirror Rune on the Minor Sturdy Shield instead? I can't see a reason why you wouldn't do that, but I might be missing something.
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Maybe you're playing in a game with limited or no magic, so the rune is not available.
Also, it's 77 for the same stats: 75 for the rune, and 2 for the steel shield :)
But, if magic accessibility and cost are not issues, why are you not putting the Mirror Rune on the Minor Sturdy Shield instead? I can't see a reason why you wouldn't do that, but I might be missing something.
The Reinforcing Runes are written such that they Don't stack with sturdy shields unless the rune ia of a higher grade than the shield.
The main advantage of the Sturdy shield is that it can be upgraded directly to the better version, while the lesser reinforcing rune is kind of lackluster so if you're focused on blocking you'd want to trade the rune for the sturdy shield at level 7.
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Why would anyone ever spend 100gp on a minor sturdy shield when a steel shield and minor reinforcing rune are only 75gp for all the same stats?
Because you are playing in a pre-Remaster game that doesn't have shield runes.
Similarly, because you are playing a converted game that started pre-Remaster and you already purchased the Sturdy Shield.
If you want maximum shield block effect (maximum hardness), you want the stats of a Sturdy Shield of the appropriate level. The most cost efficient way to get there is to own a Moderate Sturdy Shield (L10), costing 1,000 gp and then start upgrading with on-level Reinforcing Runes at L13+.
You end up behind by 500 gp at L13 (it costs 2,500 gp for a Greater Reinforcing Rune; it costs 2,000 gp to upgrade a Moderate Sturdy Shield to Greater.) However, this is more than made up by the savings to get to the stats of a Major Sturdy Shield (L16.) It costs 7,000 gp to upgrade from a Greater to Major Sturdy Shield. It costs 5,500 gp to upgrade the Rune.
The cost savings to get to Supreme are even larger. Upgrading a Major Rune to Supreme is 24,000 gp. It costs 40,000 gp to upgrade a Major Sturdy Shield.
So yeah, you can save 25 gp by just getting a Minor Reinforcing Rune at L4. Thing is, the stats granted by a Lesser Rune aren't as good as those of a Lesser Sturdy Shield (-2 Hardness, -8 HP, -4 HP Break Threshold), so you want the Sturdy Shield. At which point benwilsher18's cost analysis comes in.
So yeah, I would totally buy a Minor Sturdy Shield, upgrade it until Moderate at L10, and then go Reinforcing Runes from there.
Many times the sturdy shield may be a magic item that is found during an adventure and not crafted/purchased.
One other consideration. You can add a reinforcing rune to some other shield type, depending on the character: a caster's targe or klar, meteor shield, salvo shield, swordstealer's shield, etc. Some GMs are less lenient than others about using a different base item than the one stated in the specific magic item description.
Assuming both are available, I do think it's odd that a base sturdy shield is more expensive than a reinforcing rune. I think it should be the other way around: you pay a discount for a specific magic item, rather than a general-use one. As Dragonchess Player above me said: with the sturdy shield you're locked to a steel shield. The reinforcing rune would fit on any type of shield, possibly onto another specific shield.
By the way, can you upgrade specific shields with different effects? In PF1, if you found a Lion's Shield for instance, it couldn't get an additional +1 enhancement on it (at least, that's how I understood it), but I can't findy anything about that in this edition. Can I make a reinforced Lion's Shield now?
Why would anyone ever spend 100gp on a minor sturdy shield when a steel shield and minor reinforcing rune are only 75gp for all the same stats?
Because you're a Champion who chose Shield as their Blessing, so the Sturdy Shield gets you +1 Hardness.
By the way, can you upgrade specific shields with different effects? In PF1, if you found a Lion's Shield for instance, it couldn't get an additional +1 enhancement on it (at least, that's how I understood it), but I can't findy anything about that in this edition. Can I make a reinforced Lion's Shield now?
Yes, per the rules for Shield Runes in GM Core, page 232:
Reinforcing runes can be etched only on shields, including specific shields, and every reinforcing rune includes maximum Hardness and Hit Point values.
Your GM generously dropped one as loot and selling it to get the rune isn’t cost effective, so you wait to sell it until you can do better, and then the shield is still worth a decent amount to sell?
Why would anyone ever spend 100gp on a minor sturdy shield when a steel shield and minor reinforcing rune are only 75gp for all the same stats?Because you're a Champion who chose Shield as their Blessing, so the Sturdy Shield gets you +1 Hardness.
You could do that with a steel shield with the minor rune for 25gp less.