Cross-class armor

[Mikanika]

Am currently level 21, taking my time reading and enjoying game play. I am planning on staying with my archer/bard class but I also realize that I can benefit from some cross-class skills. Somewhere on my travels I picked up an axe.. but, apparently I need the appropriate armor for it as well unless I just go in my undies, which doesn't get me too far I suspect.
Am I on the right track assuming that I can just buy starting armor for a cross-class at a vendor, then doing level appropriate quests which eventually give me better gear and weapons?
I know I am only 21 and probably shouldn't worry about a cross-class yet but I am getting a bit overwhelmed with all the info I am reading and don't want to miss anything during the course of my leveling.
Did a couple of dungeons yesterday, great fun..

[Gumbercules]

the quest to unlock the job will reward you with mainhands, so that helps some and alot of the early gear can be used around different jobs (if gear that can be equipped by DoW or DoM can be used across the board by those disciplines.)

[Nestmile]

Welcome to FFXIV!

As far as gear goes for your early classes, you can indeed buy the gear from NPCs pretty cheaply. As Gumbercules said, your physical DPS classes (and, early on, Tanks, though they'll start getting their own sets around level 15) will share gear for Disciples of War, whereas the others (magical DPS and Healers) will share gear for Disciples of Magic, and your class quests will provide you with upgrades to your weapon (as well as one piece of armor that you can choose from).

It's worth noting that the gear awarded from completing the Hall of the Novice exercises available starting at level 15 (one Tank set, one DoW set, and one DoM set which you can acquire by completing the exercises as those disciplines) can be used up to around level 30, too, which saves you the hassle of getting your hands on a few sets of gear. You'll also get a ring that increases your exp. gain below level 30 when you complete the final exercise for the first time.

[Niwashi]

Somewhere on my travels I picked up an axe.. but, apparently I need the appropriate armor for it as well unless I just go in my undies, which doesn't get me too far I suspect.

Strictly speaking, at this point it's not because it needs its own type of gear (though in later levels it will). It's because gear has minimum levels at which it can be equipped. While you're a level 21 archer, you're a level 1 (or thereabouts) marauder. Each class has its own level, and when you equip the axe you're acting as marauder and need gear wearable at your marauder level. The level 1 gear you started the game with should be fine to start with (or duplicates of it can be cheaply purchased from vendors if you no longer have it). And if you kept the other low level gear you used for your archer, that will work until you get to level 15 and can repeat the Novice training as marauder to get the "Brand-new" tank gear.

There are cases where gear does limit which classes or jobs can wear it. That's listed in the gear's tooltip window. For instance, your Brand-new Tabard lists "Disciple of War", meaning that it can be worn with any of the DoW classes, but not with any of the DoM classes. As Marauder, you'd be allowed to wear that once reaching level 15, since Marauder is also a Disciple of War, but it has its own gear that's better suited to tanks, with stronger defense (that's what you'll get from repeating the Novice training, as mentioned). That tank gear, instead of saying "Disciples of War", will say "GLA, MRD, PLD, WAR, DRK", so only those ones (all the tank classes and jobs in the game) can wear it. So while it's possible to wear archer armor as a marauder, it's not possible to wear marauder armor as an archer, at least not past level 15, which is where tanks start getting their own sets separate from the other Disciples of War.

Both because of differing levels and because gear can be suited to different classes, you'll normally want to swap out all your gear at once whenever switching between classes. So to keep that simple, the game lets you store multiple gear sets. (On your character window, there's a "gear set" icon just above your picture to bring up the list of them, and that gear set list window, in turn, has a plus sign icon at the top for when you want to add new ones.) This feature doesn't actually store the gear itself. That's kept in your Armoury Chest. But the Gear Set list remembers which of those items you use together, so when selecting a set, it will search your Armoury Chest for all those items and equip them so long as it finds them there.

[Mikanika]

Once again, thanks everyone for taking the time to write these excellent explanations! They are helping me greatly!!

[ExiledOne]

Your regular starting clothing is actually level 5 so you can use that until you need higher, which wont take long.