I know this question can probably be answered by the interwebz but I didn't want a complete spoiler.

I have a lvl 3 character, finished K. Falls except for the canyon spirit side quest. I haven't been able to find any armor yet, except the really expensive ones that you can purchase.

Did I miss something or should I just head to the Den and look for some there? Is lvl three high enough to go to the Den ?

Thanks.

I think I could buy a Leather Armour after I did the Gecko cave quest.

The only thing of danger that might be in your way during the travel to The Den is a slaver encounter.
Just head there directly.
You will be able to buy armor there.

Armor is hard to fetch in the beginning you can only afford a leather jacket, really. But there're ways to get rich faster if you catch my drift.

or

just have some patience and you'll be able to buy armor in the next town after completing a few quests here and there, depends a bit on your barter skills of course.

Hmm, it's been a while since I've played Vanilla... so I am not sure anymore if you can loot armor from corpses. Naw I dont think so.

There is a leaather Jacket or two in Klamath, but you may not be able to afford them yet, particularly as you have a big expense coming up.

Lvl 3 is OK for Den.

Thanks for your responses.

I was able to loot some combat armor off of Smiley but I didn't want to lose the quest xp and the gecko perk so I didn't want to kill him.

Excuse me I have some gecko hunting to do.

Oh yeah that's right, Smiley did have leather armor to loot. In the restoration mod it's the same only particular NPC's have armor in their inventories.

Anyways, trapping is also a mighty fine way to collect a few bucks, you'll be having your armor in no time in return for a few gecko pelts.

Normally I play nice but my evil character "Evilina" snuffed Torr and Smiley then told the Buckner lady they were both transformed into gecko turds, got myself heaps of negative karma.

I had to choose between karma or the skinning perk, wasn't an easy decision to be honest but looking back I dont use this perk often in later levels.

You can get a set of Leather Armor in Klamath, but you have to commit to it from the start. You need to do the following:

-pick up everything not nailed down, and pick all low-order locks you can even if it means a few reloads
-do Torr Buckner's quest right away, kill the brothers when they show up (you will need to run quite a bit but it's doable), and take everything they have
-If you haven't already, raid Vic's house and make sure to pick up the pipe rifle; you'll need it for the next step
-talk to the guy in Ma Buckner's place and get the Still quest, then kill the first couple of geckos and run for the still; you'll be low on 10mms by this point unless you used a spear or bare hands for the scorps and the bros
-go to trapper town and loot everything you can and start the rat quest; do not enter the cave below yet but do kill the rats on the surface and loot the buildings

At this point you should have about 700-800 cash on hand and a bunch of crap to unload; save any rubber boots for when you go rescue Smiley as well as at least one Rad-Away for later use, but be willing to let go of everything else. Hit up the merchant in the bar and even with a low Barter you should have enough for a Leather Armor, a 10mm Pistol, and a few reloads; you may need to reset his inventory a few times, which can be done via exiting and re-entering the town provided you haven't done any transactions with him. Since you are going to get a 10mm pistol you can afford to sell the Pipe Rifle, which is actually worth quite a bit for an early weapon, and that will make things a bit easier.

If you rescue Smiley first and then do the Still quest you can skin the Geckos there for a bit of extra cash, however the rats and radscorpions are significantly easier kills than the geckos and you can more or less safely melee them to save ammo, which means you will have the LA and a significantly better weapon for the Smiley quest even though you miss out on a couple of gecko skins.

I tend to not bother since I will be eliminating a certain gang in the Den in short order and can get some Metal Armor from them which is good for quite a while, but then I tend to have a very high Speech from the start and can get allies for the purpose. I also know a couple of places to get a shotgun early on and will be getting a Hunting Rifle in the Den, so I save my stash from Klamath for buying .223s and shotgun shells.

Just get Sulik into the party and tear his leather jacket off him

Go to VC and rob the trader can't recall his name.

Or, if you don't want him in your party or your Charisma is so low that he doesn't even want to, just steal it from him, he won't be needing it anyway