I have an idea. Maybe a merchant could start with it's horse and some number of items generated with a random table. I know that one of the reasons I wanted to play a thief was the possibly problematic starting gear for a merchant. Here's a basic example of what I mean:
Merchant Equipment TablesRoll four times on the following table:
1 - Roll once on the weapon table
2 - Roll once on the armor table
3 - Roll twice on the miscellaneous table
4 - Roll once on the trained animal table
5 - Roll once on a table of your choice
6 - Roll again two more times
Weapon Table: Roll two ten sided dice
2 - Chainsword (wroomwroom)
3 - Gold bin full of gold bars
4 - Sharpened bone
5 - Katana
6 - Bow with arrows
7 - Pick
8 - Mace
9 - Spear
10 - Axe
11 - Dagger
12 - Hammer
13 - Short Sword
14 - Claymore
15 - Crossbow with bolts
16 - Nunchuks
17 - Scourge
18 - Maul
19 - Giant serrated axe blade
20 - Unicorn horn
Armor Table: 2 10 sided dice
2 - Steel platemail
3 - Steel greaves
4 - Black bronze mask (damn, that's badass)
5 - Iron gauntlets
6 - Iron helmet
7 - Leather armor (your choice of leather)
8 - Copper chainmail
9 - Iron mask
10 - Wooden buckler
11 - Bronze helmet
12 - Leather gloves
13 - Bone greaves
14 - Bone helmet
15 - Shell helmet
16 - Iron chainmail
17 - Wooden shield
18 - Basalt helmet
19 - Bone gauntlets (so close)
20 - Adamantine gauntlets (woo! power gloves)
Misc. Table: two ten sided dice
2 - Adamantium ring
3 - Aluminum toy boat
4 - Sharpened bone
5 - Candlenut chair
6 - Brass idol
7 - Limestone miniforge
8 - Rope reed rope
9 - Wooden blocks
10 - Cut semivaluable gems
11 - Rope reed bag
12 - Obsidian puzzlebox
13 - Iron chain
14 - Barrel of chosen alcohol
15 - Iron harp
16 - Goblin skull totem
17 - Kitten tallow roast
18 - Gold ring
19 - Donkey leather shoes (DF doesn't have pigs in it. Holy shit, I just noticed that)
20 - Star sapphire crown that's majestic beauty provides constant light, even in the darkest of blah blah blah
Trained Animals Table: roll 2 10 sided dice
2 - Baby bronze colossus cage (aww, it's so tiny)
3 - Penguin cage
4 - Slugman cage
5 - Baby Giant Desert Scorpion cage
6 - Kobold cage
7 - Two humped camel cage
8 - Muskox cage
9 - Donkey cage
10 - Horse cage
11 - Kitten cage
12 - Puppy cage
13 - One humped camel cage
14 - Groundhog cage
15 - Cow cage
16 - Mule cage
17 - Tiger cage
18 - Baby Giant Cave Spider cage
19 - Walrus cage
20 - Elephant cage
I think I went overboard, but you get the idea.
Action: I'm going to follow DF Newb through the door, but I'm going to be ready to get behind one of the guards if something happens. I'm a coward, like all elves.