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I think the current implementation of kits is unwieldy in most cases and bugged in a few; I personally feel that the basic toolkit requirement should be completely dropped and reworked as a bonus option at Basic/Expert/Master levels.
I fully understand the need for resource management, but all toolkits are currently overpriced and overly bulky for many starting PCs. Many character types absolutely need to start with at least 1-2 toolkits; thieves, healers and repair the most common toolkits, with alchemist and others in certain special cases. The Snare kit is entirely broken at 3-4x the Bulk of all others.
That means that 30-70% of starting wealth must either be taken up by these mandatory kits to enable related skills or you chose armor/weapons and cannot use your skills.
Skill monkeys have it worse; it is nearly impossible to build a starting skill monkeys PC without at least 2-3 skills nerfed because they cannot afford all the Kits.
What I'd like to see is a revamp of all skills currently requiring Kits to drop that requirement and simply state that the DM may require a -2 to -6 circumstance penalty if the necessary materials or equipment are not readily scrounged or carried. Or lab/smithy/etc. rental fees may be required.
Then you can add in all costs as-is to give +1/+2/+3 circumstance bonuses if the appropriate Basic/Expert/Master kit is available.
To fix the Bulk issue for Skill Monkeys, I think you could either sell a "multipurpose" Kit that covers all skills at 2-3x Bulk and Cost or allow a similar discount to reduce Bulk and Cost for each Kit after the first.
That would fix the issues with low-level characters while still allowing the flavor and bonuses for higher-level PCs and low-level specialists willing to shell out for a Basic Kit.
Thoughts?
-John
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A couple of separate points here, so:
Price: In the past, I've generally houseruled that if you start the game trained in a skill that requires a kit, you get a standard version of that kit for free. If you want a masterwork version you're going to have to pay for it, but at least you get the basics to do the job you put skill points into. I would love to see this become an actual rule.
Bulk: Agreed that the bulk is punitive. Most kits should be L bulk, and things like Snare kit should only be 1 bulk. Alternately they could just double the bulk you can carry and that would also be fine - though even in this case Snare kit shouldn't be more than 2.
Starting Gear based on Ancestry/Background/Class instead of just a pile of sp would help a lot in terms of price but a lot of the skills kits are too heavy to carry around.
It wouldn't be so bead except the math of the game assumes you always have the right, level appropriate, tool for the job which means you really do need to start carrying an expert/master/etc. tool kit of each type of skill you want a reasonable chance of succeeding at.