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Most homeowners don't need a professional-grade tool collection; they need a handful of the right tools, used correctly, for the small jobs that come up between actual plumber visits. Here's what's actually worth having, what each one is really for, and where the line is between a reasonable DIY fix and a job to leave alone.
A cup plunger, the simple dome shape, works fine on flat-surfaced drains like a sink or tub. A toilet needs a flange plunger, which has an extended rubber flap that seats into the toilet's curved trap and actually creates a seal. Using a cup plunger on a toilet is a common reason plunging "doesn't work" when the real issue is the wrong tool for the shape of the drain.
A toilet auger (sometimes called a closet auger) has a protective sleeve so it can reach into the trap without scratching the porcelain, and it's the right tool for a clog that a plunger won't move. For sink, tub, and shower drains, a basic hand-crank cable auger reaches further into the branch line and can hook a hair clog that's sitting just past where a plunger's suction can reach.
These cover most of the gripping and turning you'll do under a sink: loosening a slip nut on a P-trap, adjusting a supply line fitting, or holding a fitting steady while you turn another. A basin wrench is worth adding if you ever replace a faucet yourself; its long handle and swiveling jaw are built specifically to reach the mounting nuts in the cramped space behind a sink bowl, where a normal wrench simply can't fit.
Teflon (PTFE) tape wraps onto threaded fittings to help them seal and turn smoothly; pipe dope (thread sealant compound) does a similar job but is often preferred on larger fittings or gas connections where tape alone may not be sufficient. They're not always interchangeable, and using the wrong one, or both stacked together, can actually make a connection harder to seal properly rather than easier.
Plumber's putty is for fixtures that don't need a watertight seal under constant pressure, like setting a sink strainer or the base of a faucet. Silicone sealant is for joints that need an actual waterproof, flexible seal, like around a tub or shower edge. Putty under constant water exposure, or silicone where putty would do, both tend to fail faster than using the right one for the job.
Most under-sink and crawl space plumbing problems happen in places you can't see well with a regular flashlight in one hand and a wrench in the other. A headlamp frees up both hands, and a small inspection mirror lets you see the back side of a fitting without contorting yourself into a cabinet.
The right tool used correctly solves most small problems. The wrong tool, or the right tool used on the wrong job, is usually how a small problem becomes a bigger one.
If you're not sure which category a job falls into, it's worth a quick call before you start. Nece's Plumbing & Heating would rather answer that question for free than send a truck to fix a DIY attempt gone sideways.