Got the Cores box set a few weeks ago and had a look of the rules, some are straight forward others take more reading. My problem atm is after getting the Adventurers toolkit and looking at the careers in the box am wondering what trappings does the character's start with? is it the typical trapping's on the back of the card or do you need to buy it with starting money or does the player make a list of things he/she what's to start with and the GM say approves it? Just wondering more now as with the Adventures tool kit have careers that have items that's a bit on the powerful side compared to the other careers.

i.e. does the High Elf Swordmaster start with the Great Sword of Hoeth and the Dwarf Ironbreaker starts with the full set of Gromril Armour, these 2 items seem to be highly rare items and I think a bit strange to have a lowly starting character to have.

Am I missing something in the rule book as the only thing I can see about starting trappings is based on your starting wealth on page 28 and page 30 of the rulebook

I believe the FAQ clarified this. You start with your wealth (items and coin) and use that to buy what you need. I believe the 'suggested trappings' are just that - suggestions for what might be appropriate.

Shinma is correct for most characters, but note that the Iron Breaker and Sword Master are special exceptions. The career ability card for each gives them their related special item as it's a career defining piece of gear. That may seem a little powerful for some campaigns and I believe some groups have ruled no Iron Breakers or Sword Masters as starting characters. Some have even house ruled them to be advanced careers. Hope that helps.

As I suspected before, just with the adventurers toolkit knocked me of balance there with the Ironbreaker and Swordmaster, thanks both of you for confirming my original understanding of the rules.

Almost all characters can afford whats on their trappings list (except roadwarden & messenger which require gun & horse & horse respectively). I created a one pre-gen character for each basic career and gave them trade tools appropriate to their trappings lists. As long as a character starts out comfortable they can have about anything listed.

..and nobody knows what a horse actually costs in 3e...

jh