My point is merely that Larian needn’t bother with the extra work involved in the latter for my sake, as it just isn’t important to me.
Clearly it is for some folk, while others are more like me. Just putting my preference out there so it can be balanced against other feedback.
The extra work on starting gear would help improve the role play experience by a lot. One of the cRPG's core features is the character creation, many cRPG fans put a lot of times, hours, into character creation.
Besides, the starting gear matter can be solved in a very cheap way, which is to make everyone every class start with casual clothing. Because the player char Tav is a Baldurian who got kidnapped during a normal day. There is no good reason behind for a high dex low str fighter to wear scale armor during a normal day. But he or she wearing just some normal shirt on that normal day would be most logical.
As for the starting weapon, just place a few weapons on the ground or some dead corpses or some chest in the tutorial chapter for player to loot.
Yes, this is perfect. I believe I said it in one of my earlier posts that I would rather start with nothing than with gear that my character would never use to begin with. And roleplaying/character creation is a huge part of the game, just like in PnP. It's little things that differentiate a good game from a great game. I'm not saying that if Larian doesn't make this change I'm never going to play this game again blah blah blah... It's a small thing that I believe would have a large impact on the overall quality of life for the game. I mean, if you've looked through these forums, there are plenty of people making arguments that are much more pedantic than this, and making a lot more fuss about it. And honestly, after consideration, I would almost prefer starting with a dagger and common clothes that are just thematically appropriate to your class or background. As mentioned in another post that I'm too lazy to quote, there are plenty of clothing textures in the games that would fit for this, with some slight modifications.
You have to remember that you're playing as an adventurer, which is represented by your class. Regardless of your background, you became an adventurer for one reason or another, which sets you apart from the common folk of Faerún. That doesn't mean that you walk around fully armed and armored all the time, but a dagger would be a great starting weapon because every class can use it and it rational to believe that any adventurer would carry a dagger with them at all times, just in case. Then as you play through the tutorial you find new weapons and armor to properly outfit yourself for the upcoming adventure.
But to everyone who says "Why does it matter, you'll get a better weapon in 30 minutes anyway," you have to realize that this is NOT other CRPG's. This isn't Diablo where you sneeze and a better weapon pops out your ass. In PNP it may be ages before you find something that is actually better than what you start with, because it depends on your playstyle. It doesn't matter if you find a Battleaxe of Badassery + 3 right off the bat, because not everyone is going to use it, or be able to use it. I mean, the Greatsword that Commander Zaulk (or whatever) drops when you kill him is usually one of the first things I sell. I don't usually play fighters that use two handed weapons, and I can't stand adventuring with Lae'zel, so it's nothing more than vendor bait to me, regardless of how good it is.
As someone with over 20 years of experience with PnP games, having your character start with equipment that they never would have used in the first place is annoying to me hurts the immersion. That's why in 5e the starting equipment isn't usually static. You have choices, so that you can tailor the equipment to the character, not the other way around. I do agree with an earlier assertion that finding the right armor/weapon during the tutorial is satisfying, but it would be MORE satisfying if you started with basic equipment and it was an actual upgrade for your character. If you've got nothing but some clothes and a dagger, then finding that first set of leather armor, or that first handaxe or shortword would be more satisfying than going "Well, I have scale mail, but I'm going to go to this leather armor because it's more thematic for my character." Most of the time, the gear that you're using is going to be based on your playstyle and the thematics of your character more than the actual numbers.
