Low Level items

[Dannyalcatraz]

You'd be surprised how many gemstones you an carry in an arrow-sized tube...

Plus, think of things like:

A breathing tube
A single dose of an alchemical solution in a skinny glass vial
Shuriken (some were merely weighted, pointy ended rods of metal)
Daggers
Sausages
A telescoping balance pole
A blowgun & darts
A quarterstaff
Scrolls in cases
A siangham
A loaf of bread
A flute
A spyglass
Strips of jerky



Well...the list goes on.

 

[nijineko]

among other things, my archer caries his bower/fletcher masterwork tools, his spectacles (he is farsighted, can't read up close, without aid), and his calligraphy tools (he is mute due to an oath that has not been fulfilled yet) wrapped up in tubes so he can carry them in a quiver.

 

[GhostBear]

Handy Haversacks are Handy. Other people already iterated on why, I won't repeat them, but they really are worth their 120 pounds-carried in gold.

Although not magical, alchemical items like Thunderstones, Tanglefoot Bags, and Sun Rods can be very useful and fit into a low magic setting. It's not magic - it's science!

Thunderstones are great against spell casters; deaf casters have a chance to screw up verbal spells. You don't need to hit the target either - just the square the target is in.

Tanglefoot bags are just amazing all around. They're useful for escape, taking down flying enemies, making enemies easier to hit... I always keep a few tanglefoot bags (in my Haversack for easy access, of course). They remain useful at high level play as well, because "Even on a successful save, [the target] can move only at half speed." Casters need a DC 15 concentration to cast. Tanglefoot bags are awesome.

Other alchemical items are useful too; they're worth a look. Also, caltrops.

Weapons and armor made of special materials can also be worthwhile. Cold Iron has its uses, as do weapons coated with alchemical silver. Yeah, I know, people point and laugh and tell me that faeries and werewolves are just children's tales, but one of these days... Never hurts to be prepared. Just in case. ...The guards don't know about my 5,000 arrow stash under the floorboards, right?

+Strength bows may also be a good investment. Again, not magical, so it fits the low-magic theme and is still useful. A spyglass may also be a good idea. They're expensive for low level characters, but in a wilderness environment they can be great - and a good non-magical way to spy across a cityscape.

 

[Omegaxicor]

see most of my players have things like, quills and paper, glasses, tools (for cooking as well as fletching and I suppose writing comes under this heading), food, etc but they store them in their backpack...

but I think we came up with the "Efficient Quiver Mark .v", it is a cylindrical series of 20 tubes (if anyone has seen Avengers then Hawkeye copied us) each containing an arrow but when an arrow is drawn another replaces it until the Archer places another arrow in there as the model (so you place 1 Alchemical Silver headed arrow in a tube and 1 Cold Iron headed arrow in another tube and effectively have infinite Cold Iron and Alchemical Silver arrows) but they cannot be anything other than Masterwork but it costs 1500 Gp and the arrows have to be specially designed to fit, costs for a single Masterwork arrow for this device are effectively 20x the price of a normal Masterwork arrow, which makes the math easier (LOL Math isn't a word in Google Chrome's dictionary )

EDIT: [MENTION=6667527]GhostBear[/MENTION] If the players start using all of that then the Handy Haversacks might be useful I will look into Thunderstones, Tanglefoot Bags. Caltrops are useful but my players have never expressed an interest in them, +Strength bows are not that useful since there are no spells available that increase attributes and if the players increase their Strength they can modify their bows once they have finished the Quest that levels them up, but the spare weapons with different materials I agree with but my players don't seem to (except the Archer who will have different arrows for different fights)

 

[GhostBear]

They don't see the value of cold iron and silver, eh? Sounds like it's time for them to meet a demonic werebear. Make it a demonic werebear kobold, just for giggles.

 

[Omegaxicor]

they are only level 5 so that will come later in the story (a cult of demonic worshipping Kobolds, one of which is possessed by a demonic werebear ) seriously though, later they will see the value of other minerals simply because the enemies will be working together to cover each others weaknesses...
[MENTION=52240]nijineko[/MENTION] I have looked through the books but I can't find Skill/Armour Shards, where are they?

 

[Keldin]

I can't find Skill/Armour Shards, where are they?

I'm not sure about Armor Shards (unless you mean Armor Crystals, from the Magic Item Compendium), but Skill Shards are from the Expanded Psionics Handbook, page 176.

 

[the Jester]

What's the cost of a wand of cure light wounds?

Failing that, potion after potion of cure light wounds.

 

[Keldin]

What's the cost of a wand of cure light wounds?

Wands cost 15gp * Spell Level * Caster Level * Number of Charges.

0th level spells (cantrips/orisons) are counted as 1/2 level.

Wands normally start with 50 charges, so a 1st level caster of Cure Light Wounds wand costs 750gp. That said, one doesn't always have to get a fully-charged wand, especially in treasure hoards.

 

[the Jester]

Cheap healing, given a pc who can activate the item (including one with a decent UMD score), is can'tgowrong in my opinion.