Is there such a thing? Other than mandates, is their anything I can farm/craft for my new low level char to make his leveling faster?
There really are two options, minor XP boosts from items or major damage boosts which make for faster killing and therefore faster XP gain 
I keep an 8% experience gain badge in my shared stash along with two low level Officer gear strictly for leveling quicker. Not to mention the moment I reach the Flooded Passage, I immediately jump into Act 2 and work my way to the Four Hills. This way I’ll accumulate enough dynamite to delve into Rothaldis’ temple in the Flooded Passage, I’ll get another inventory bag from the side-quest in the Arcovian Foothills, I’ll have the Skinner Family rescued, a few extra shrines, and plenty of high level gear to with my massive amounts of extra levels I gained while working my way to the shrine in Cronely’s Hideout.
Leveling all depends on your playstyle. You can level up pretty fast if you know the right places to hit as well as quickly finishing side-quests. Reputation also plays a major role in leveling up since the faster you reach Respected with a faction, the faster you can start doing bounties.
I grabbed a lvl 14 8%experience medal. What are the 2 officer items you are referring to?
I was wondering how to get dynamite quicker so that I could farm SR. I have to think it is hard to get some dynamite from Cronley’s at that low level.
I was wondering if I should drop my 85 into vet and grab some low level stuff. Not sure if that works.
IMO, xp gain seems pretty unnecessary since you’ll get to maximum level by the end of the game anyway just doing the quests. It doesn’t make the game any easier on the way, either since the mobs level up with you. So, I personally prefer gear that increases survivability and/or dps.
Another way of looking at it is that I want to get to ultimate asap since I have already done the run through once and the majority of side quests in veteran and elite don’t offer a whole lot of help at end game.
What twink items are there for more dps or survivability. One of the best seems to be money as I can buy a ton of pots and npc gear that suits my build. I just assumed there had to be some items (like in other games) that would make subsequent run throughs more efficient.
There are no specific items per se (other than generic boosts to stats), anything else will depend on your build, ie what damage types to boost etc. so there is no universal answer
Just keep items that you think will be good for whatever build you try, chances are they will be the right ones, no point trying to turn this into a science
In my games I have played there are some great twinks items (no matter the build you want) or a game mechanic to allow you to use certain items for twinks. I believe the developers realize that most people who have gone through the main story once are more interested in getting their next char(s) to a high level faster and don’t need all of the content again. GD just may be different.
For what its worth, I am leveling a bleed trickster atm.
Not sure what games you refer to, I am not aware of any items or mechanics that are specifically intended for twinking, which does not mean that many of the random ones dropping cannot be used for it (and that stat boosts do not help in equipping them).
If you want to reach the next difficulty faster, you can always bypass all of act 1 once you have enough scraps to repair the bridge - and bypass content in all acts.
I do not feel any need to level faster early on, levels come fast as it is, I would rather accelerate the mid levels (probably the ones spent in act 4 normal to act 4 epic)
Diablo 3 has several. An augment that allows you to make any item lvl req drop to 1. Certain items like hellfire ring/amulet. Low level exp. gear that you get access to that you usually get after a first run through. Other games have exp. pots.
I am not saying Diablo 3 is better or anything of the sort. Just giving some examples of twink mechanics or gear in other games.
The Explorer set gives you some XP boost, so that probably is the closest to what you are looking for
Now that you mention it, yes: The Explorer set is probably the closest thing to twink gear there is. It also gives total speed in addition to the run speed from boots, which is particularly valuable for new characters since ther run speed is not yet capped. Run speed is probably one of the most important stats in the game. I usually wear this set from 20-34 (still don’t have the hat, but it’s good enough already).
Officer’s is just a prefix to rare (green) items. It adds 10% experience to the gear and it used to be a really common drop in b26, so I still have loads of “Officer’s…” weapons and armor on a mule.
As for dynamite, Staunton and Hennefy Mines have guaranteed dynamite and finding more along the way is almost a guarantee. When I do a run through both mines, I generally come out with 4-6 total dynamite. Basically, anytime you see Cronely’s men, search the scrap piles since you’ll usually find dynamite hidden inside.