Your starting gear actually has larger impact on the starting difficulty than the traits you get. Sure, you might be able find some really good combos if you could select them, but you can’t. That’s part of the point. The game shouldn’t encourage trying to minmax your starting party, because it is a waste of your time both thematically and practically. They’re not the main characters and the game mechanics should reinforce this.
I agree with GOD (even though I’m an atheist ;)). This is challenging game not for sissies, this game has opportunity to become legendary game because of cohesion project decisions. It should be more like roguelike game than easy game with load option. You have to play careful and you should take responsibility for your bad decisions. I would go further and after level up I would give random traits (you can only choose type of trait like utility, offensive, defensive).
