Challenge: Best 1st level starting gear

[Invader]

I want to see who can come up with the best assortment of gear for a 1st level PC.

There's not really a lot of rules for this one. Weapons and armor are excluded so we're looking for just utility gear although things like shield spikes or locked gauntlets are fine. Everyone has 100gp to start and should assume average leniency on the amount of stuff you can carry by yourself, so no mounts, wagons, boats, etc. There's also no hiring mercenaries to do your work for you. :smallamused:

All books, web enhancements, and compendiums are allowed but no homebrew stuff.

If you have some crazy off the wall item that doesn't have an obvious use, please explain how its useful.

[Randomguy]

For a character with a high wisdom score, a single jug of shapesand. Turn it into whatever you need at the moment, like a hacksaw, a drill, spade, a masterwork tool, a lockpick, so on. Or you could get creative, and make a long, shapesand, quarterstaff-handle, to extend the length of a quarterstaff so that it makes a 10-foot pole. Or use the shapesand to attach rungs to the quarterstaff, turning it into a ladder.

[VGLordR2]

For a character with a high wisdom score, a single jug of shapesand. Turn it into whatever you need at the moment, like a hacksaw, a drill, spade, a masterwork tool, a lockpick, so on. Or you could get creative, and make a long, shapesand, quarterstaff-handle, to extend the length of a quarterstaff so that it makes a 10-foot pole. Or use the shapesand to attach rungs to the quarterstaff, turning it into a ladder.

Isn't there a loophole that allows you to shape it into a major artifact?

[kharmakazy]

Isn't there a loophole that allows you to shape it into a major artifact?
Here's a take on the subject:

The new object is made of sand, but serves as a normal item of the same sort

It's arguable that a major artifact is a normal item of it's kind, seeing as they are unique objects (despite sharing stats with other mundane objects like longswords). As written, it has to duplicate all of the qualities of the artifact.


Furthermore, you can use it to duplicate other alchemical items (like Tangelfoot Bags) and then recollect the sand when the effect ends.

Finally, you can use it to duplicate otherwise expensive material components or foci. Turn the sand into Xgp Diamond Dust to get a cheap and easy method of Rezing.

[gorfnab]

When I am looking for interesting and useful gear options I tend to look through this thread: Shax's Indispensible Haversack (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148101)

[Palanan]

I second Shax's choice selections. That's just 31 flavors of awesome.

[Runestar]

If you play in FR, your character can get bonus starting equipment usually worth around 300gp (usually a masterwork item or spell scrolls/potions).

[Gavinfoxx]

Mules! Or be a Wizard, sell your spellbook and retrain to the Eidetic Wizard variant, and use the extra money for gear.

[eggs]

I think I'd go with something like:
Backpack (2gp, carry stuff without having to hold it all; it's like a miracle man, a miracle)
2 Waterskins (1 gp, dehydrating is for squares)
2 Dust Eggshell Grenades (10 gp, no-save Blindness, Oriental Adventures)
100ft Silk Rope (20gp, you can never have too much rope; if a mule were available, this would totally be hemp)
10 Pitons (.5 gp, for climbing, anchoring pulleys, jamming doors or machinery, etc.)
Pulley (5gp, "pulling things" is something adventurers do a lot of - hoisting heavy loot, smashing up dungeons, setting up traps, etc. Pulleys let adventurers do it well. Arms and Equipment Guide)
Bolt Cutters (6gp, cut through anything thin and metal. Anything. Arms and Equipment Guide)
4 Bells + 300ft Twine (4.6 gp, don't get stabbed in your sleep)
Quarterstaff (0 gp, a stick/pole/lever/weapon and it's free. Doesn't matter if you want one; take it.)
Hooded Lantern + 3 pints oil (7.3 gp, blah blah light blah)
10 Pouches of Marbles (2 gp, minor battlefield control and become your rogue buddy's best friend, Arms and Equipment guide)
2 Pouches of Flour (.2 gp, Make invisibility less awful, Dungeonscape)
10 pieces of Chalk (.1 gp, it's like one-way communication to the future. whoa.)
Bedroll (.1 gp, don't get stupid weather or fatigue adjudication sprung on you; because that's lame)
2 sacks (.2 gp, it's a sack; its only limit is you)
1 day's trail rations (.5 gp, I don't think there are rules for starving, but it's a couple sp to get stupid realism off your back until get a chance to get your grubby mitts on a ham or something)


And 30 gp free for spellbooks, spell component pouches, holy symbols, thieves' tools or whatever.

EDIT:
Or for casters who like evil spells, Humanoid Hearts are always a good cheap option, if the ick factor isn't a turnoff (1sp for a 25% chance of +2 CL).

[Invader]

I think I'd go with something like:
Backpack (2gp, carry stuff without having to hold it all; it's like a miracle man, a miracle)
2 Waterskins (1 gp, dehydrating is for squares)
2 Dust Eggshell Grenades (10 gp, no-save Blindness, Oriental Adventures)
100ft Silk Rope (20gp, you can never have too much rope; if a mule were available, this would totally be hemp)
10 Pitons (.5 gp, for climbing, anchoring pulleys, jamming doors or machinery, etc.)
Pulley (5gp, "pulling things" is something adventurers do a lot of - hoisting heavy loot, smashing up dungeons, setting up traps, etc. Pulleys let adventurers do it well. Arms and Equipment Guide)
Bolt Cutters (6gp, cut through anything thin and metal. Anything. Arms and Equipment Guide)
4 Bells + 300ft Twine (4.6 gp, don't get stabbed in your sleep)
Quarterstaff (0 gp, a stick/pole/lever/weapon and it's free. Doesn't matter if you want one; take it.)
Hooded Lantern + 3 pints oil (7.3 gp, blah blah light blah)
10 Pouches of Marbles (2 gp, minor battlefield control and become your rogue buddy's best friend, Arms and Equipment guide)
2 Pouches of Flour (.2 gp, Make invisibility less awful, Dungeonscape)
10 pieces of Chalk (.1 gp, it's like one-way communication to the future. whoa.)
Bedroll (.1 gp, don't get stupid weather or fatigue adjudication sprung on you; because that's lame)
2 sacks (.2 gp, it's a sack; its only limit is you)
1 day's trail rations (.5 gp, I don't think there are rules for starving, but it's a couple sp to get stupid realism off your back until get a chance to get your grubby mitts on a ham or something)


And 30 gp free for spellbooks, spell component pouches, holy symbols, thieves' tools or whatever.

EDIT:
Or for casters who like evil spells, Humanoid Hearts are always a good cheap option, if the ick factor isn't a turnoff (1sp for a 25% chance of +2 CL).

This is a pretty good list and completely in the spirit of what I was looking for. I played a character one time that carried a ridiculous amount of mundane items and was able to find something useful for just about every situation.

[Agent 451]

Quarterstaff has been mentioned already, but it seems everyone have forgotten about the sling! It's a 0gp, negligible weight, ranged weapon that anyone can use, and you have ammunition for it where ever small rocks are found.

Another great thing is liquid sunlight from Complete Scoundrel. 20gp and sheds light like a torch. Craft it into a necklace and you have a cheap hands free everburning torch that doubles as an emergency anti-vampire weapon.

[gallagher]

Chalk is almost a necessity in any dungeon dive, to mark paths and walls and writing messages when your party gets split.

Anyone who does not see the utility of a rubber ball is also missing out.

As a DM i like to throw in little knick-knacks for players to toy with to see if they come up with anything creative

[boj0]

Has the small steel mirror been mentioned yet? The utility for that thing is astounding.

[Ryu_Bonkosi]

Backpack 2gp (A Bag of Holding with the weight of everything in it.)
Grappling hook 1gp (Useful for assassinations, infiltrating, and climbing.)
10ft Pole 2sp (If you can swing it make it collapseable so you don't have to worry about space restrictions.)
Hooded Lantern 7gp (Best Lantern in the PHB if you ask me.)
Oil, 5 pints 5sp (Fuel)
Waterskin 1gp (Stay thirsty my friends.)
Map Case 1gp (For all the important papers you may come across.)
2 Sacks 2sp (For holding little things like rice, gold or the ground bone dust of your enemies... it happens.)
Bedroll 1sp (So you don't have to pay those outrageous prices for a bed at a tavern. The nerve of some people.)
Belt Pouch 1gp (Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Batman)
Flint and Steel 1gp (Fire if your friend.)
Small Steel Mirror 10gp (To see around corners, it has saved my ass a few times.)
10 Pieces of Chalk 1sp (Draw some arcane markings, or arrows. Good for dungeon delving.)
50ft Silk Rope 10gp (Because it's lighter than hemp.)
Travelers Outfit 1gp (So you aren't nude when you start. I had a DM who went there once. It was terrible.)

36.1 gp

[VGLordR2]

I've always wanted to see a Samurai sell his starting masterwork weapons for a gold boost.

[Telonius]

4 gp - 1 square yard of linen. (Terry cloth works best if the DM will allow it instead, but linen is fine too). You should always store this item in an easily accessible place, and know exactly where it is. If the DM doesn't allow you to use it as a circumstance bonus to almost any situation, something has gone terribly wrong.

[Invader]

I'm also a really big fan of Shax's list but the majority of stuff listed isn't going to be something a 1st level character spends money on.

[Mayito]

On actual things I have used, cooking kit and shaving kit. In an adventure a magic key dropped into a small pot of acid so I got the tongs out of the cooking kit to pull it out, shaving kit has a mirror which is always useful and also shaving cream to trap the rope you leave behind as you climb that cliff

[Cespenar]

4 gp - 1 square yard of linen. (Terry cloth works best if the DM will allow it instead, but linen is fine too). You should always store this item in an easily accessible place, and know exactly where it is. If the DM doesn't allow you to use it as a circumstance bonus to almost any situation, something has gone terribly wrong.

I will need to remember this for a Planescape campaign.

[thriceborn]

I'm not sure if this is thread Necro, if so, I'm sorry, but can someone explain why a square yard of terry cloth is so versitile?

[Gavinfoxx]

There's an even MORE water resistant tarp like object somewhere, I think in A&EG...

[Invader]

I'm not sure if this is thread Necro, if so, I'm sorry, but can someone explain why a square yard of terry cloth is so versitile?

Sail, bag, clothing, something to write on, shelter, use it make a litter, cover stuff up... I'm not that imaginative though, I'm sure the playground had a million and 2 uses for it :smallamused:

[Eldan]

Well, to quote the Mimir:


A square of cloth, it says, is about the most massively useful thing a Planewalker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold wastes of Stygia, you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Elysium, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert plane of Pelion; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Oceanus; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Chatoblepas (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your square of cloth in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a square of cloth has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a clueless (clueless: non-planewalker) discovers that a Plnaewalker has his square of cloth with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a small steel mirror, waterskin, soap, trail's ration, potion vial, compass, map, ball of string, ten-foot pole, cold weather outfit, full plate armour etc., etc. Furthermore, the clueless will then happily lend the planewalker any of these or a dozen other items that the planewalker might accidentally have "lost." What the clueless will think is that any man who can walk the length and breadth of the planes, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his square of cloth is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
Hence a phrase that has passed into Sigil slang, as in "Hey, you Catch a skeg at that Rounder Lissandra the Gateseeker? There's a Blood who really knows where her square of cloth is."

[Kelb_Panthera]

I think the terrycloth sheet is a joke. A reference to either hitchiker's guide to the galaxy or south park. "Don't forget to bring a towell."

[Ravens_cry]

I think the terrycloth sheet is a joke. A reference to either hitchiker's guide to the galaxy or south park. "Don't forget to bring a towell."
No.
Surely you jest.
I am all agog at this revelation.

[Madara]

I've always wanted to see a Samurai sell his starting masterwork weapons for a gold boost.

But everyone knows PCs can only get less than a reasonable price when they sell things! Otherwise you'd just use the ladder-> 10ft. pole trick to get infinite cash.

[crazyhedgewizrd]

A few chickens and maybe a cow

longstaff, just a large quarterstaff size is just over 10ft its free and you can sell them as 10ft poles

[eruditionfish]

I played a centaur Ranger in one campaign, and as a Large quadruped, I noticed I was able to carry a rowboat large enough to fit the entire party without being encumbered. So I did. The campaign never got near any water, sadly, but I did use the thing for arrow cover once.

[Madara]

I played a centaur Ranger in one campaign, and as a Large quadruped, I noticed I was able to carry a rowboat large enough to fit the entire party without being encumbered. So I did. The campaign never got near any water, sadly, but I did use the thing for arrow cover once.

Bravo sir. Bravo :smallcool: