Your character’s first purchase

[clu2415]

I’m new to DF and my party just brought our first haul back to town. My polearm-fighting barbarian found a cool suit of armor, a nifty throwing axe, and his cut of the loot is $9000. What are your usual first purchases?

[isf]

What kind of polearm and armor ar you using?

[MIB.6361]

Best Armor you can afford/carry.

Enchantments for DR+2, Lighten .75 on that armor.

Make sure you have a solid ranged attack weapon/option.

Upgrade your weapon to a Fine, Meteoric, or Enchanted version.

Quick-Release Backpack

Healing Gems

Magical Light Sources

Magical or higher tech/quality everything else for ease and comfort.

[Anders]

Hookers and blow.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Anders

Hookers and blow.

Don't laugh too hard!

The ol' fantasy campaign that inspired GURPS Dungeon Fantasy – which eventually gave us the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game – ended as a large-scale thing concerned with families, politics, religions, wars, etc. . . . However, it started as pure dungeon-crawling hack 'n' slash (the first adventure was "find the historically important tomb of nobles of an ancient culture, break in, defeat the guardians, and cart off everything of value"). During that phase, I encouraged players to spend their characters' loot in less-than-optimal ways. I looked at the "1 character point buys $500" mechanic and thought, "Would it be so bad to reverse that, and let cash dropped on carousing buy a few extra character points for 'good roleplaying'?"

Anyway, it didn't break anything. Those who wanted to be models of efficiency bought their fine-quality gear, heavy armor, and so on. And those who just hit the Temple of Bacchus (more or less) for a drunken orgy with the temple prostitutes ended up poorer and less well equipped, but about 25-30 character points ahead by the time the campaign took a serious turn.

And later on, a character became very powerful by saving up cash to pay a high bride price and marry into (more or less) being the general of the world's biggest non-monstrous army. He pretty much bought social advantages (which don't exist in the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game) outright with cash.

[malloyd]

It's quite dependent on what is for sale.

I think the best choices for dungeon crawl games of all sorts are the ones that help you not die (that better armor, defensive or healing items, stuff that helps you run away reliably (teleport to the entrance/inn items, lucky charms, or smoke bombs for example) or your resurrection fund) or that end up as levels/character points (i.e. training in games charging for it, access to new spells, or Kromm's points for cash scheme).

Third choice is information about the next dungeon/types of monsters encountered, if there is actually a reliable source for that - there usually isn't but some games, particularly those with a more light novel/computer RPG inspiration may have an Adventurer's Guild library or book room with a usage fee.

Increasing your damage per turn (a better weapon) isn't likely to be wasted, but definitely takes second place to not dying. Utility items have a nasty habit of not paying off because they get lost before you encounter the inconvenience again, though that's arguably just because the GM stops throwing it at you now that you have the item....

Realistically expendables to get around specific obstacles often come to be a major use of funds, but you don't plan for those from the beginning, they'll turn up naturally as play goes on.

[clu2415]

Originally Posted by MIB.6361

Best Armor you can afford/carry.

• Enchantments for DR+2, Lighten .75 on that armor.
  
• Make sure you have a solid ranged attack weapon/option.
  I found a fine, +2 damage enchanted throwing axe that returns with a concentrate maneuver.
• Upgrade your weapon to a Fine, Meteoric, or Enchanted version.
  I have an option for that.
• Quick-Release Backpack
  
• Healing Gems
  Less variable than a Major potion for approximately the cost. Nice.
• Magical Light Sources
  Anything less than 8,000? That buys a ton of glow vials...
• Magical or higher tech/quality everything else for ease and comfort.

Originally Posted by isf

What kind of polearm and armor ar you using?

I found fine heavy mail with a 50% lighten enchantment. I started with a dwarven halberd, but now we have a houserule that lets you remove the U from parry if you have 1.5 times the strength. There’s a fine and balanced halberd for sale which is a solid option with the houserule.

[Bruno]

Very high on the priority list is a short list of Quality Of Life magic items.

Wand of Cleaning
Amulet of Repelling Mundane Insects
If the character isn't durable, Scarf of Climate Control (wear it as a headwrap when its hot!) and Hatpin of no-sunburn

That kind of thing.

I play big, sweaty, poorly groomed minotaur barbarians (Ham-fisted is a fun disad). Everyone is happier when they're clean and not flea-ridden or hosting a colony of moths. Also avoids some social penalties, casual HT checks to resist mosquito-born diseases, and reduces the chance of getting the Itching condition.

Climate control and shade items are just civilized, but they also reduce penalties to HT rolls from various environmental problems, so you show up at the dungeon in good shape. I've had a blistering sunburn on my back and thighs right before a 27 hour plane flight so I might be a weee bit biased, but danged if my character is going to start a dungeon with Moderate Pain and Itching.

[ArchonShiva]

Don’t ignore cheap consumables.

A scroll belt with a handful of universal scrolls: Major Healing, Infravision, Concussion, Invisibility, See Invisible, Walk on Air, Breathe Water, Swimming, Repair, there’s a whole list of inexpensive spells that will get you out of a tight spot.

If using a shield, get a shield lectern and a scroll of Awaken — an instant area unstun for your friends can prevent a TPK!

Strength Potions, at +1d for 1h, are a steal at $250 for some characters.

In the non-cheap column, a charged universal scroll of Bless +2 will last a long time if you don’t tend to get hurt.

[Stix4armz]

A potion belt with potions, utilities, and grenades is an excellent backup for any character. I like to equip my characters with Minor or Major Healing Potions, Paut (if applicable), a Universal Antidote, a few Glow Vials, Alchemist's Fire, a Sleep Potion, and a Magebane Potion.

Mostly that stuff just sits in the belt forgotten, buy it and forget it, like an insurance policy. Then you need it you can suddenly nuke the GM's pet wizard because he forgot you've been carrying around that pesky Magebane Potion since the beginning of the game for just such an occasion. Yeah... That was awesome. Obviously, the others may have their own special circumstance to shine and they don't cost that much encumbrance to carry, so every delver should carry one.