It’s already a rule that before the first babarian raid, a roll of 7 would not result in a steal. I think it should further be that a roll of 7 would not result in a card discard before the first raid.
Here is the reason. Due to board setup and playere competition, it’s often not possible for all players to get firsthand access to all resouces required to make a knight and feed it. Even given good access, it’s possible that the player cannot get the required resource before the first raid. Thus, if other players are not willing to trade, the player needs to rely on his own trade to obtain resources for a knight. This step can be easily frustrated by card discard.
The main problem I wish to see changed is that, once a player is forced to give up a city due to the first raid, it’s in effect impossible to make a comeback. This leaves the game subject too much to the chances of the first few rolls.