[baalzy]

Personally, I'd keep the box, having 100% WR is so much more important down the line then having 5k now. (ESPECIALLY if you decide to go for a monk, lets you keep several different weapons handy and take some choice loot back home with you). There are some good camps that will drop bronze/fine steel weapons that will quickly weigh you down, being able to pick up 10 of the heaviest without it affecting your encumbrance is a huge boon and will allow you to farm that much more, paying for itself and then some eventually.

Solo classes don't typically need a lot of gear if you pick a caster. If you didn't like your mage, try a necromancer. They're a lot more involved then a mage(mage casts pet, casts another pet, maybe heals their current pet, then hits with a 5dmg nuke before the mob dies).

*It occured to me after typing this you have a mage, just steal his gear for your necro and you should be fine*

I did lvls 1-30 with a full set of cloth armor and did it pretty quick (not a single magic or stat increasing item). Take your 200-300p, use it to buy some cheap hp/mana bracelets and if you can find it some cheap ac/hp rings and and a halfway decent dagger like a dragoon dirk or something to help you with meleeing mobs down until lvl 12 or so. I'd save at least 50p just to ensure you can buy spells and only get the spells you need. I skipped most of the resist spells and things like summon coldstone ect... because you generally don't need them at low levels and get upgrades at higher levels so you end up learning spells that you never cast.

If you have money left over, I also like the 2str/4int earrings & the 7int/7str necklace (carrying loot, believe me, it helps) but I'm not sure if you'd be able to afford that just yet.