Needlenose pliers, big and small
Channel-lock pliers
Big rubber mallet (instead of dead blow or brass hammer, but one of each would be preferable)
Basic set of pin punches
Lamp--shop light or even a super-cheap LED headlamp.
Cheap nice-to-haves that I love:
Hemostat (surgical clamp), for which you will find infinite uses. They're ike tiny needlenose that you can lock down.
Dental picks (for cleaning out threads, retrieving unseen stuff from blind holes, picking out o-rings, and a million other things)
Personally, I don't think you absolutely need a torque wrench for basic work. If you get one, it should be a high-quality (expensive) one. I think relying a cheap one is a lot worse than going by feel.
If you're doing electric stuff, you will need a good crimper and wire cutter/stripper. I recommend the ones from vintageconnections.com. Inexpensive ($30-something for crimper) and give great results...buy at least the one spare die for standard color-coded terminals and butt splice connectors. It is not worth buying anything cheaper, and imho it must be a ratcheting style to get a good crimp.