Seems reasonable for the folks who have the starting skills to be able to "somehow" be able to single-handedly re-acquire the tools they had at startup. Via quest or crafting - it could/should be a hassle to replace them, but it should be possible. I agree - getting ganked after a day or 2 for a new player and losing the tools would make for a very unfavorable gameplay for no particular reason.

Making items bound would seem to be logical, but I surmise that the devs here really want to make things as realistic as possible for best immersion and purity of the gameplay.