The Shortening Rules Questions

[Sermil]

Also... Is it just me, or did the Shortening REALLY overpower Elan? Before, he started with the pretty weak X-Treme Diplomacy as his main weapon; just a +1 defense. Now, he can start with the Rapier, which has +3 defense! Since most of what you want in the early game is defense (since you use it each time you explore a new room), it seems like he's actually better than Roy at battling monsters when he starts. That just seems.... wrong. He's supposed to be good at getting Loot for Bard Song, not tearing through monsters himself.

We've been considering a house rule to forbid Elan from taking the Rapier as a starting shtick.