[TippetsTX]

So there are a number of factors involved with answering this that RAW provides little to no guidance on. I think GMs need to make decisions about how they want this to work in their campaigns which makes me think this might be a better discussion under the 'house-rules' forum.

I tend to agree with Shostak that there are many valid reasons to limit access to arms & armor with significant bonuses for background NPCs. That shouldn't prevent GMs from equipping specific 'elite' characters with such items, however.