Originally Posted by Zellin
A box with equipment doesn't really make sense if you pay close attention to the events of opening cinematic. Everyone being teleported from the streets right into pods.
So it's equipment taken from past slaves/meals/adventurers or from previous people who have turned into mindflayers or the mindflayers actually moonlight as door-to-door weapons&armor salesmensquid, whatever. It doesn't need to be explicitly marked "Here are the weapons your character was wearing when they got abducted, even though the opening cinematic teleports you along with your armor into that pod, don't worry about the inconsistency."

+1 that at character creation we can choose specific equipment and be able to customize its (at least the armor's) colors.
Also, can fighters/clerics/paladins start with Chain Mail yet? Please.