PLANS:
It's the family hauler right now, so nothing too extreme. My definition of extreme is a long-travel race truck, so I guess that doesn't narrow things down at all to something I can plan for.

I'll cover suspension, armor, and stereo. I have a running list of maintenance items that I'll post later.
I'd like a comfortable, reliable rig to go explore and romp around in the desert and mountains with, as well as have enough travel to do general exploring. I have built my own race cars with custom fabbed suspensions, so I really am tempted to do a mid-travel suspension build that would allow me to rebuild shocks and play more with dampening and spring rates down the road. It'd be great to get into enhancing suspension geometry. That said, I don't have the budget or time for that right now, so I need to look for ways to build a lift that can be put together in stages so I can have fun now. I'd like to do something more than the basic 5100 front/rear. I don't plan on lower control arms. I am planning a suspension that will let me be a weekend warrior without knocking my teeth out, whilst allowing me to get the most dampening out of my and get the most from the little travel on the chassis. (read: NOT a mall-terrain vehicle or lift)

As for armor, it would be nice to eventually get a front bumper, sliders, and a 3/4 to full roof rack. Long term, I can say for certain that I'm not planning a full cage. So I need to account for that weight in a way that won't make the car ride like a go-cart right now, but won't make me blow through travel with the extra planned weight.

I don't want to do much with the engine... not even thinking intake or exhaust (although I've already done the deck-plate mod, and I would consider a throaty exhaust as long as it didn't drone at high speed on the highway). I looked at a supercharged 4Runner when I was truck shopping for a 4R and opted not to get into forced induction again. I've raced a turbo MR2 for the past few years in SCCA Solo 2 Autocross, and while the forced induction is great for cheap power, I had more fun in the years leading up to my MR2 when I was racing my little under-powered Mazda Miata and Toyota Starlet. Awesome suspension, ultimate traction, great brakes, and solid reliability. It's a great recipe that I hope to follow with the 4Runner.

Near term in the next few weeks I'm going to make it reliable, build a stereo for me and the mrs and pick out a suspension and install it. Also need to pick up a Ultra-gauge, Scan Gauge II, or a bluetooth obd II scanner to look into a CEL that showed up a week or so ago.