Is it feasible to play LL/CI as first character?

Problem with CI/LL is that they are ***expensive***, and you don't plan your build around life, meaning that while you have no cash you also have no survivability, making it hard to reach end-game to generate the cash you need to improve survivability....

... catch 22.

So, is it viable as a first character, or do you need to start with a life build to generate some currency?

First character for a new player, or first character for an experienced player in a new league? I don't know about the former, but the latter is possible given that I did it in Essence. Self-found too. I didn't do the usual respec but went with my CI tree from the beginning. That meant I had barely over 1000 life and -60% chaos resistance in act 2 merciless. You can bet the cobras hurt a lot.

CI really isn't expensive anymore, and hasn't been for a while. You need a chest with 5-600 ES, 100 ES boots, 100 ES gloves, 250-300 ES helm, 300 ES shield. None of those are very expensive. Last league I went CI around 75ish on my first character, once I could trade for a decent 5L regalia that had 650ish ES. Going Occultist or Trickster makes it a little easier to go CI on shittier gear (with their flat ES nodes). Level as life, then use the free respec points you get to change those to ES nodes when you go CI. You want probably at least 6K ES on softcore to farm dried lake, and I'd want 8ish K ES for maps.

Going Low-Life on your first character is probably not realistic, unless you are going to play with a group who will pool currency to get you a Shavs, etc.

You can just level as hybrid and then craft some decent'ish ES pieces with Essences or Alt+Aug->Regal->Mastercraft...

And if the pieces you crafted lack resists just take some resists nodes from the tree and unspec them once you get better gear with more resists on them. You can also take some jewel slots and alt+aug some resists jewels and just replace em later.

It's doable but I wouldn't do it :P

Ok ...so it may be "possible", but is it practical?

Would you make a CI character at the start of a league, or will your first one be life?

Well, I did, and it worked well. My progress was limited by my available playtime, not my build. I may well make another in some future league.

Well imo it is viable,in fact i think is easier craft ci gear than life at start,ppl says CI is expensive when you want to get that 500+ shield/helm . .250/300 for start out is more than enough i think

I did a low-life trickster as my first char last league, and even with subpar gear at best I managed to get to mid-tier maps. If you use certain items you can get away pretty cheap. Though I recommend going for a caster if you really want low lofe. You'll still need some uniques, but those aren't too expensive, even at the start of the league.
Most important ones:
Solaris lorica, or how I call it poor man's shav's. It doesn't have ES, but can be used very early on.
Lori's lantern. An amazing resist ring for budget low life. Also a nice defensive option.
Eye of Chayula/Valyrium. Stun immunity/threshold increase. Really useful, trust me on this one.
Auxium. Freeze threshold based on 65% of ES. Again REALLY useful. If you use eye of chayula you might aswell go with dream fragments for freeze immunity.
As for weapons, good options are (in my opinion) Ephemeral edge or Heart breaker, since both give increases in ES and still provide other boni for spell casters.

In general I highly recommend stacking aura effectiveness, discipline gives you really high amounts of ES later on if you do. Vaal Discipline even more so if you happen to get one.

I hope I could help a bit with my experience :D

Most of the Chaos Damage is avoidable. Just be quick on your feet and get some +runspeed boots.