Others in this thread have offered good advice.

I remember running around one day at level 6 or 7, knocking off orc pawns,
skellies and pixie tricksters near Felwithe, just for their weapons. No xp,
but at the end of the day I had about 4 plat.

I second the idea of realizing that you are not going to be able to upgrade
your armor as soon as a warrior. I wore patchwork through level 10 or so,
when I began to replace it with ring. Not banded, too expensive. Ring is
lots cheaper, at least for a dwarf in Faydwer, because there's lots of it
coming out of Unrest, almost as high AC as banded. A little heavier, but I'm
a dwarf with good strength. I got my first bronze at Level 15, when I
happened to be in a zone where a dark elf who was deleting her character was
having a fire sale of small bronze. My bronze breastplate was taken directly
from the smoking corpse of a dry bone skeleton in Unrest.

Remember, you can always get cheaper armor if you go to the source. I picked
up Emperor Crush's dwarven ringmail tunic for 10 pp in Crushbone the other
day, from a wizard who wanted to get rid of it, and offered to sell me
another for the same price. Small bronze, which is found in Unrest, goes for
very low sums from players in Unrest (who want to unburden themselves
without having to to trek back to Butcherblock to sell or bank) and even in
Butcherblock from players who are leaving Unrest and going back to Antonica.
Would you believe 8 pp for small bronze pauldrons?

When buying armor, buy smart. Wait for good prices.

Like others, I killed bandits for the occasional bronze weapon, only these
were the bandits in Lesser Faydark. When I hit level 10, I started killing
minos, and mino axes, which I can always sell for 4 pp if I am patient, were
my main source of income from level 10 to level 14 or so, when I journeyed
to Antonica.

Finally, you don't need to buy all those spells available at level 9, right
away. I would buy:

Summon Food (pays for itself in food costs)
Center (Buffs R Us)
Hammer of Wrath (a better weapon than you will be able to afford for a
while, probably, and it hits for magic to boot)

If you still have money:
Root
Endure fire (useful for fighting ebon drakes)
Sense the dead (not expensive, and a mana-cheap way of keeping your Div
skill up for the occasional use of Invis to Undead)
Endure poison

I agree with the other poster who said that Word of Pain is an
invitation to have all the mobs attack you at once. And it is expensive in
mana to boot.

And a question to everyone else: have you ever found much use in Soothe,
Fear, and Invigor? Soothe sounds great, but I just haven't gotten much use
out of it. Fear is the same way. The one time I tried it, the feared bandit
ran backwards two feet, then came right back and was in my face, with the
other bandit I was figting. I think I died that time. And has anyone found
much use for Invigor?

== Gilead, Dwarven cleric of Fennin Ro