What should a level 4 wizard spend WBL on?

[Voidstar01]

I've got 5400 GP, I still need the basics, everyone in the party starts with a horse with all the proper riding gear. I have absolutely no idea what I should be doing with this money. I've never played a caster before, in any edition, so i'm VERY lost here. any help?

[Buufreak]

You can buy more spells for your book. That's usually a safe bet.

[Vaern]

I've got 5400 GP, I still need the basics, everyone in the party starts with a horse with all the proper riding gear. I have absolutely no idea what I should be doing with this money. I've never played a caster before, in any edition, so i'm VERY lost here. any help?
There's a couple threads around with suggestions for equipment to buy. I'll try finding them and edit this post later with the links for you...
One of them is a list of "essential" effects (flight, true seeing, immunities, etc.) with a provides a number of options for items that grant each effect , ranging from low budget items with a uses-per-day limit to more expensive continuous effect items to "deluxe" options that come with additional bonuses.
The other is a short list of cheap items that may or may not be generally useful, and was compiled for people who just want to fill an empty item slot without spending a lot of gold to do it.

One item that I would like to note in particular is the Artificer's Monocle. Magic Item Compendium, 1,500 GP. If you cast Detect Magic and have at least 5 ranks of Knowledge (Arcana) while examining a magic item, you identify the abilities of the item as though you had cast identify on it. Pick that up and you won't have to worry about actually knowing the identify spell or spending the 100 gp material component cost every time you need to cast it. Plus, it's a well known fact that all wizards wear monocles.

As a wizard, though, your first priority should probably be your spellbook. One of my friend mentioned "spell pamphlets" once, which I think may have come from a Dragon magazine (but don't hold me to that). They're essentially miniature spellbooks that contain a single spell each. They're supposed to be stocked in wizard university libraries and the like, and their main intent is to allow learning wizards to acquire new spells. Even if it wasn't something mentioned in a published sourcebook, the concept is still perfectly doable with just the core rules regarding spellbooks.
The rules for wizards learning new spells by copying them from another wizard's spellbooks is 50 gp per page. This is the same cost as if you were to buy a spellbook containing a single spell (ie spell pamphlet) at the market price of 100 gp per page, copy the spell into your own spellbook (which costs 100 an additional 100 gp per page), and then sell the book back to the library for half the base price. Buying scrolls for level 1 spells without material components is cheaper, but for Identify and any spell 2nd level and up you'll save money copying these spell pamphlets.

Links:
Necessary Magic Items (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items)
Fill That Slot! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?149464-Fill-That-Slot!-3-5)

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

An Anklet of Translocation is 1400 gp, a Healing Belt is 750 gp, an Eternal Wand of a 1st level spell at a caster level of 1st is 820 gp and usable 2/day, each of those is in MIC. That Eternal Wand should be something like Benign Transposition, Expeditious Retreat, or Protection from Evil, and it's always a standard action to activate.

A wand of a 1st level spell at a caster level of 1st is 750 gp with 50 charges, or 15 gp per charge remaining if fewer than 50. A wand of a 2nd level spell at a caster level 3rd is 90 gp per charge remaining, a wand of a 3rd level spell at a caster level 5th is 225 gp per charge remaining, and a wand of a 4th level spell at a caster level 7th is 420 gp per charge remaining. Per the Rules Compendium a spell trigger or spell completion item like a wand takes the same action to activate as the casting time of the spell being used.

You could get additional spells. It's 100 gp per page, one page per spell level, plus either 25 gp for a 1st level scroll, or 50 gp per spell level (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/arcaneSpells.htm#addingSpellstoaWizardsSpellbook) if you copy it from a friendly wizard's book or from a library at an academy.

Edit: A Cloak of Elemental Protection in MIC is only 1,000 gp and it can seriously save your bacon at this level and for a while yet. You can get additional effects added to another item of the appropriate slot for the same cost as a standalone item of the same bonus, as detailed on MIC p234. For example, a Cloak of Resistance +1 is 1,000 gp, or you can add a +1 resistance bonus to saving throws to another cloak for the same price.

[rel]

First allocate a few hundred GP to mundane adventuring gear.
Dying because you forgot to pack rope is just embarrassing.
grab a wand of mage armour to save yourself a spell slot
add a few feather fall talismans to save another spell slot
finally get a few scrolls of magic weapon (or magic fang if your beat stick prefers to use bear arms)
convince your fellow party members to go in on a communal wand of lesser vigor, go to full HP between each fight a few 700GP on heals is cheaper than 7000 on raise dead.
a few pots of prot evil to block charms and compulsion

that should consume about 1400 you can split the rest between spells and larger purchases.

A few nice options:
an anklet of translocation grants some mobility
haversack is always useful
third eye freedom is a literal life saver
a bag of tricks let's you summon woodland critters to test traps and pick up cursed items
If you don't have a rogue getting the party to go in on a rogue-in-a-can is always good.

[Gauntlet]

I recently started a campaign with a Wizard 4. These are the things I had on my shortlist:

Headband of Intellect +2 4000
Lesser Metamagic Rod (Extend) 3000
Heward's Handy Haversack 2000
Anklet of Translocation 1400
Pearl of Power I 1000
Level 1 Eternal Wand 820
Healing Belt 750
Level 1 Wand 750
Level 1 Wand (25 charges left) 375
Level 1 Wand (5 charges left) 75

NB. I took Collegiate Wizard, so I didn't bother spending money on scribing additional spells into my spellbook. If you didn't, you'll probably want to set some cash aside for that.

One useful acquisition has been Smuggler's Boots, hiding a few useful scrolls/wands/potions. Useful for getting out of imprisonment.

I ended up going for a Metamagic Rod of Extend, a Handy Haversack, and a few scrolls / wands.

[Luckmann]

Never leave home without a haversack. That's 2000gp right there.

Then aside from assorted minor mundane/alchemical gear (masterwork tools, paper, writing kit, a horse, some clothes, alchemist's fire/liquid ice, tent, sleeping bag, food, etc), I'd probably try to save for that Headband of Intellect or similar, or just grab extra spells you want.

[Efrate]

MW tool for every skill you have points in or see yourself using, 50 gp per skill. Alchemist fire, holy water, sunrods, flasks of acid. say 400 gp.

Wands if mage armor for you and your monk if you have ones ac, 750gp, recast hourly. Wand of magic missle for incorporeal things, cl 1 750gp. Wand of burning hands cl 1 750 gp, for swarms. Can wait on those and get better options but having something to fight them on hand is great.

Haversack because your strength is likely terrible, 2000gp.

Hewards fortifying Bedroll 500gp, much shorter rest time with all the benefits of getting your 8.

Scrolls to add to spellbooks or just to have a few extra castings of whatever. 25gp and up.

Anklet of translocation 1400 gp your get out of jail free card.

Qualls feather tokens, specifically tree but any. A giant tree on command has tons of use, from pinning the bbeg (good with grease) or any do not get near it creatures, whip for free trips, and other sundry effects. 100gp and up iirc.

Chronocharms from the mic, 350gp and up, good one time utility effects.

Links to goodness

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?445114-quot-Bunko-s-Bargain-Basement-Magic-Items-That-Are-a-Steal!-quot-(from-Wizards-forum)


http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?148101-3-x-Shax-s-Indispensible-Haversack-(Equipment-Handbook)

[Luckmann]

Hewards fortifying Bedroll 500gp, much shorter rest time with all the benefits of getting your 8.Is this a mistake or is there really a version that doesn't cost 3000gp?

[Kurald Galain]

I've got 5400 GP, I still need the basics, everyone in the party starts with a horse with all the proper riding gear. I have absolutely no idea what I should be doing with this money. I've never played a caster before, in any edition, so i'm VERY lost here. any help?

At this level? Scrolls scrolls scrolls!

Also, a pearl of power is a good investment, as is standard defensive gear (like a cloak +1, mithral shield +1).

[Efrate]

Mixing up the much less good magic bedroll and hewards my bad. Hewards is 3k. Magic is 500.

[noce]

I'd buy a headband of conscious effort for 2000gp, roll concentration in place of a fort save 1/day.
Also, cloak of resistance +1: typically Wiz saves are crap.
A wand chamber walking stick could be useful, too.
For 500gp, arcanist's gloves are still useful at that level: +2 caster level 2/day to a first level spell. Useful both for duration (charm person) and damage (ray of enfeeblement) spells. Even at higher levels could help dealing with spell resistance (again using ray of enfeeblement on an evil outsider is a perfectly fine tactic).

[rrwoods]

I'd buy a headband of conscious effort for 2000gp, roll concentration in place of a fort save 1/day.
If ToB is on the table, you can get it 1/encounter for 3,000 instead, which may or may not be worth the extra thousand right now depending on what else you need/want. (The item in question is Ring of the Diamond Mind, granting Mind Over Body.)

[tiercel]

Pretty much +1 to the handy haversack, not only for carrying capacity but especially also because it lets you grab anything from inventory as a move action, which is increasingly important if you are carrying around any scrolls, wands, or (gasp) potions.

If your DM doesn't really track encumbrance AND lets you pull items from inventory freely anyway, the haversack might not matter so much, but it's a pretty safe bet for most PCs in most games, and wizards more than most (since they are more likely to have a low Strength and a lot of items like scrolls they might want to pull).