I've been brainstorming ideas to add more gear to characters within the context of established systems in the game. Essentially, I've come up with this for lifepath characters:
Step 8.5. Roll a d6*. On a success, you add one item from the Group Gear options to your character. You can only choose an item of the same type once. If you choose an ammo option, your starting gear must include something using that ammunition. This selection does not prohibit the group choosing it as one of their normal group selections.
*Alternate: roll CUF instead of d6.
I don't want to simply alter the cash roll in Step 19. I want this to align mechanically with the "semi-random stuff" nature of starting gear rather than just opening a US Cav catalog.