Power supplies and start up currents
Torque is directly proportional to current.  If the current to the motor is limited, then it's torque will be limited.  Whether it can start with reduced torque is only something you can say.  It depends on what the torque versus speed profile of the load looks like.

If you don't allow the motor to produce full torque on startup, it might not spin at all, therefore trying to draw the startup current forever.  It is not a good idea to plan a motor controller that can only deliver the stall current for a short time.  If not, you should have some mechanism in there to shut the motor off after the full current times time limit has been reached.  You can do some computation in the processor to simulate temperature in both the motor and the driver, and shut things down when you think either gets too hot.  You can also outright measure temperature, but due to lag in getting heat from where it is produced to the sensor, it may not tell you of a over temperature condition in time to prevent damage.