Equipment can make a character. Hell, that is the whole idea behind Legacy Weapons!

So, I have an extension - for character concepts that rely on specific weapons, augmetic loadouts, and suits of armor: Rather than taking what the game gives out, replace your starting equipment with something of EQUAL VALUE.

E.G: The game says I start with a Force Sword. I check, and Force Swords (when you tabulate their rarity, their quantity and their quality) produce an infamy modifier of X. Now, I can replace the Force Sword with anything that is equal to or less than the value of X.

This rule should only be used with players you trust to tell good stories, not powergame like a cheesy munchkin.

Generally speaking, I've never needed hard rules to regulate this sort of thing. When a player is creating a character, he simply asks "Can I change X into Y, it fits my character because ABC", and then I make a call based on that, or come up with additional ideas based on their backstory.

Yeah, I actually did the math, and it turns out, the starting equipment isn't even balanced based off acquisition rules!

I mean, just as an example, the renegade starts with a EITHER a best quality lasgun OR a good quality bolter...and that's the difference between a +0 and a -40...so...I have no ******* idea.

Quality is not a big game changer in the case of weapons so do not take it seriously. A good craftsmanship. Bolter is better than a best craftsmanship lasgun.

Also as starting gears, do not forget the infamy bonus. That also give you a pair or more gears...

It's not intended to be balanced as such, because the acquisition rules are not intended to be balanced against itself - it's a system for acquisition of goods relative to their in-universe scarcity and usability.

Any GM will have to eyeball it and assign whatever they think is appropriate.

Or ditch the system altogether, and facepalm when it shows up in yet another publication...

Well do not go that far.. The System is very easy to abuse but only if the Gm support it. the main problem is the rarity thing which equalize the gears but the more infamy =more chance is not a bad starting. The best to do is to determinate the worth of the equipment's based on the current situations. A power armor is worthless in a feral setting as there is no way to recharge or maintain it. The same armor is an unique way to show your power in a spacehulk community and a rare but not out of acquisition in a dark mechanicus forge world.

Quality is not a big game changer in the case of weapons so do not take it seriously. A good craftsmanship. Bolter is better than a best craftsmanship lasgun.

Also as starting gears, do not forget the infamy bonus. That also give you a pair or more gears...

A good-craftsmanship bolter is better than a best-craftsmanship lasgun -- until it runs out of ammunition, at which point it is worse than a poor-quality bow and arrow.

This stuff is not only balanced (to the extent that it is balanced) based on killing-power concerns.

To address the original question, I would just eyeball the stuff. If a character wants to play a primitive savage with a bow and sword, of course I'll let him do it.

That is fair enough.

I just want to play someone duel wielding sonic pistols to rock my enemies TO DEATH.

A good-craftsmanship bolter is better than a best-craftsmanship lasgun -- until it runs out of ammunition, at which point it is worse than a poor-quality bow and arrow.

Really...? as bows can not run out of arrows...

Other than that there are other options of course but in this case we talk about individual player character gears and not in warband level where common lasguns can be a better choice as more easy to maintain, repair, replace. Also a wise leader could upgrade his warriors lasgun and train them to use better guns. like bolters...

I personally allow my players some leeway in trading in some of their starting gear for something of equivalent value. But then I always have the last say on whether or not something is just not available.

I personally allow my players some leeway in trading in some of their starting gear for something of equivalent value. But then I always have the last say on whether or not something is just not available.

I do this too, but I also encourage them to do so depending on what they start with and what characters they play. When I started my current game, I reviewed all characters, gave pretty much everyone a free Common Lore of some kind, and something that was appropriate for their characters.

The Flight-Lieutenant-turned-Rogue-Psyker, in his backstory he was discovered because he scored abnormally high on dodging in aircrafts and the like, so I threw him Precognitive Dodge (I think it was Precog.Dodge, anyway). Another player is playing an Adepta Sororitas, so I reviewed her starting equipment and ended up giving her armour Power-Assisted.

An Arbites that was supposed to join the game (but didn't), I suggested changing out one of the weapons for the more appropriate Ius Automatic w/ Fire Selector, Voice-Operated and Dermprint Loyalty Spirit. Normally, this would result in a pretty rare piece of weaponry, but it is by no means overpowered compared to, say, a Boltpistol, and it is incredibly "Judge Dredd"-y and appropriate for Arbitrators and Judges.

Really, try to create the characters with the players, help them realize their ideas as long as they're reasonable, and try to encourage roleplaying over rollplaying whenever possible. It's annoying as hell when you can't realize a concept as a player, and it's annoying as hell as a GM (imho) when the players end up creating faceless quickgen characters.

Use your best judgement. The starting equipment, the starting skills and talents, it's just suggestions, really. Everyone starts with a Trade-skill as part of being Human. But if the character is supposed to be from Schola Progenium, giving them Linguistics (High Gothic) makes a hell of a lot more sense.