The biggest gamechangers for me were:

• Finding grenades for sale in tavar. They have no requirements, do 50 damage a shot, and cost 20 elexit each. Most quests can be resolved without combat, but these can easily resolve early quests that do require fighting. Like rat's quest in tavar.

• Getting the first rank of pickpocket skill. Either from amulet or skillpoints. Pretty much every npc can be pickpocketed for a moderate amount of elexit. It really stacks up fast and soon you dont really need to worry about money. It is tedious to pickpocket everyone though.

• If you are willing to look up spoilers, making a beeline to pick up every amulet that grants a temporary skill bonus. Most are lying in random houses in the wilderness. This grants a lot of advantages, its basically like having all those skills for free since you rarely would need more than one at a time, and you are able to spend your early skillpoints on other things that can really improve your character. (especially some of the crafting skills)

• As well, getting the sunglasses that let you see items or living things. Also would require you to look up spoilers, but it makes searching areas a lot faster.