Would you get a dagger or a tent?

[Senko]

Selecting gear for an arcanist character I've covered all the basics quarterstaff, light crossbow, food, gear, etc, mule to carry the stuff (I rolled well). I now have 10 GP, a few silvers and coppers left so I'm debating what to do with that 10 GP. Should I buy a dagger (2 gp) and have 8 left over or a tent (10 GP) and have shelter at night. My personal preference is for the tent having just bled all over one of my workshirts due to an enterprising leach who hid up in the coolweather slot to feed on me out of sight but I don't want to make a decision based on that. So suggestions dagger or tent?

[Java Man]

Your a wizard, and hence smart. Assuming you already have rope and a bedroll: buy the dagger and a couple yards of canvas: if the need arises use the rope and canvas to rig a shelter over your bedroll.

[Quixote]

Agreed. A dagger helps with defense, food, kindling, repairs, shelter...no one journeying out in the world should be without a good blade, first and foremost.

[deuxhero]

You're a high intelligence character. Triple your wealth by crafting untrained. This is especially so if you can drop one of your 1st level spells into Crafter's Fortune. Now you can afford both.

Otherwise, talk to the rest of the party. Splitting the cost of a medium tent in half would also allow you to get both and have 5 silver left over.

[Heather 540]

Dagger. You always want to make sure you have the three basic damage types covered.

[PCScipio]

All of my characters carry a knife.

[Senko]

Java Man wrote:

Your a wizard, and hence smart. Assuming you already have rope and a bedroll: buy the dagger and a couple yards of canvas: if the need arises use the rope and canvas to rig a shelter over your bedroll.

That wouldn't work as canvas is specifically called out as not being waterproof though you can treat it with wax or resin to make it water resistant. I wonder what our tents are made of . . .

Anyway that said thanks for the replies I'll go with a dagger (I have silk rope, a bedrooll adn a winterblanket along with a lot of other gear).

[BigNorseWolf]

Buy a tent and a club

[Senko]

Why a club when I have a quarterstaff?

[BigNorseWolf]

Senko wrote:

Why a club when I have a quarterstaff?

Can't use a quarterstaff while being used as a chewtoy (grappled)

[avr]

You can probably loot a dagger from your first fight. Maybe your second or third if you start out fighting rats.

Tents are made of canvas before better materials are available. The trick is to arrange for water that penetrates to come down an edge or something rather than dripping on to your head.

[Mark Hoover 330]

You're a wizard, so your highest stat is likely Craft. Craft: Carpentry would govern elaborate furniture joinery, so it's not a stretch to say that Craft: Carpentry would allow you to fit wood together. This solution works if your PC will be out in the wilderness around trees or wood of some kind, so disregard if you will not be in that kind of environment.

First off, buy a dagger. Spend 1 silver on 10, 50' balls of twine. lastly, buy a Monk's Kit for 8 GP; this includes a backpack, belt pouch, a blanket, 50' of hemp rope, soap, torches (10), 5 days of trail rations, and a waterskin.

Any time you're out traveling and need to bed down for the night, find either solid wood or a bent/broken tree that is fairly stable; extra points if you can find a leaning tree that's already braced against or in the crook of another tree.

Using your dagger and either one end of your quarterstaff or a club, hack down limbs and arrange them on either side of the leaning tree. If you just have solid wood, lay one thick branch between two other trees or at an angle between wooden uprights as a cross beam.

Secure the joinery points between all your wood pieces with twine. The uprights you lean against the side of the cross beam can also be spiked into the dirt; carving the bases of these into spikes can be easily achieved with a dagger.

Split even more wood, maybe even some green wood if you can find it, into slats between the side limbs. These sides should now start looking like lattice which you could further secure with more twine (you've got plenty). Finally, after all of this collect large bales of debris from the forest floor, using Mage Hand to pull anything up to 5 lbs at a time from a distance. Pile this debris around the side lattice walls, lay it over the top and such to insulate your shelter and line the floor that you can blanket down on as a bed. Note: if there is sod or thick moss nearby, a dagger will help you carve out 5 lb slabs of this material which can also be helpful as a watershed material to insulate the shelter with.

This will of course all take time. Make sure your party knows you need an hour or two to make this shelter before you bed down for the night, so they accommodate your time needs. All of the appropriate Craft checks (Craft: Carpentry, possibly Craft: Baskets for the lattice work and twine weaving) should be a +4 check for you to hit a DC 10, so you've got a decent chance of pulling it off. For some of the heavy lifting, rope big stuff to your mule.

Last, but certainly not least, make liberal use of your Mending cantrip. At level 1 you're only affecting 1 LB of material, but as you level you can repair lots of stuff... stuff like cut twine. You can recover all of your twine balls with enough time as you break down camp in the morning. Also, from level 1, y'know what weapon you can repair with Mending? A dagger.

So with a dagger, Mage Hand, Mending, and enough time, you should be able to craft a survival shelter in the woods using other basic equipment.

Of course, if you want to skip all of the above, buy a tent and as you're purchasing said tent, use a Sleep spell on a townsperson nearby that is armed with a dagger. Sleep can be cast from 110' away from said person so you might even be able to do this without being seen and arrested. Once your victim passes out, run over and steal their dagger.

Happy gaming!

[Mark Hoover 330]

Just another thought: I know people hate on the PFSRD site online, but on said site I just spotted 1 SQ Yard of heavy leather for 3 GP. With 6 GP for the leather, 2 GP for a dagger, 1 GP for 50' of Hemp rope and an extra 1 GP and some silver left over for walkin' around money, you could stretch the leather over a length of rope between 2 trees, making a roof approximately 3' x 2'; not huge but enough for a lean-to. For the stakes, use Craft: Carpentry and take 10, using your dagger to whittle them.

Honestly, I just feel like a dagger is way more useful than a tent.

[Neriathale]

I would save the money until you have started playing, then spend it on what the circumstances need. Buying a tent only to discover that the first third of the adventure takes place in a big city would be embarrassing

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