What kind of items do you consider "standard gear" and carry in your back pack at all times. You know stuff you wont go out on a mission with out.

Superman potions (just in case my magic types are tied up or ko), ressurection powder, and restoration potions. Haste potions are nice too but tend to be hard to find.

What is necessary for me is just in case heavy heal and stamina potions. Enough arrows/bullets/stones/quarrels for my party. I also make sure I have lots and lots of room to carry everything I find. But really, as long as I have arrows, I am good ;)

To build on Secret Master's post - be careful how much ammo you carry. When I first started, I carried gobs of ammo and was tremendously overloaded. You can usually find ammo in most places, so you need a bit of practice to learn how much is enough, but not too much.

I also carry at least one Cure Poison for everyone and the potions that wake you up for at least two characters. You never know who will be knocked out or poisoned later on.

the bottom three slots (out of the 8), i put cure paralysis powders, smelling salts, and res powders. it takes a while to get 5 of each for everyone, and there are exceptions (eg a bishop wont need cure paralysis, as they get the spell, or any spell caster that has res spell wont have res powders, and a bard needs those slots for other things), but i find you never know who is going to get knocked down, out, or frozen, so it's good if everyone has the flexibility. although, after initially stocking i must admit i never go through too many.

i also like 5 restorations in each character's first slot, superman's and eye-for-an-eye's on the melee'rs, and guardian angel's and granite potion's on the spell casters.

and for anyone with a slot or two left (particularly monks and spell casters), i like to carry extra bombs - death bomb, ice bomb, fire bomb, and canned elementals. generally i'll keep extras in the party inventory and swap them out for the different areas (eg ice bombs are nice in rapax castle).

For my magic orientated parties, I take res powders, smelling salts, magic potions and mana stones. I give these to everyone who can use them except Bards or Gadgeteers (who need their slots for instruments/gadgets.

Later I take more potions. Eye for Eye and Superman potions for the RPCs (RFS, Vi), since I generally have more important things for the casters to cast.

I bring along ammo in moderation, but never let the encumberance of the party get above the white (50% of their max). I do that by storing gadgets, ammo and anything else I do not really need along, and by pushing strength in a lot of my characters (Bard, Priest, Alchemist, RPCs and later Gadgeteer). That's my current party but other times I do something comparable. I also make sure not to "over-protect" my characters with armor that is too heavy for what they can easily carry. It's a real pain if they have to limit their ammo a lot and not pick up anything. This is particularly true for Vi, who may be penalized and able to carry less in areas she does not wish to go.

Sometimes I will keep a good item which will give a boost to Locks and Traps or Pickpocketing along that I do not normally wear but can put on when needed.

There's a few other items I carry with me relating to upcoming quests, things I need for certain areas in the game, Gadgets and other items not combined yet (if a Gadgeteer is with), various ingredients for money making purposes. More details would be spoilers, but I think this is enough to answer the question unless somebody wants more.

Yes, carry most of these things if you can, but I do get weary of only allowing, say, 8 arrows or stones for a character. Go for a balance.

Each member of my party gets 3 restoration, 3 cure poison and 2 resurrection powders (except my gadgeteer, he only carries gadgets).My ranger carries his own arrows,I hate having to equip in the middle of a battle. I keep all spare gadget parts and any unneeded items in one chest and portal to them as needed. The key is light armor and a certain cloak bought from a certain demon.

Oh, and one tip. Things you carry in your party inventory only count 50% against your party's encumberance. So put any heavy items you are not currently using in party rather than individual player inventory.

For example, if you are carrying 200 pounds of stuff in party inventory, then only 100 pounds will get distributed among your characters.

You can check this for yourself by counting up everybody's encumberance before and after you remove an object of known weight from party inventory. I only discovered this about six months ago, after over a year of playing, and it blew me away!

[ 07-29-2003, 12:37 PM: Message edited by: EEWorzelle ]