It can handle any load with suitable power resistors.
60 years ago, before the advent of power semiconductors, if one had to start a 250HP, 600VDC motor, one would use huge resistors in series with the armature. As the motor picked up speed, one by one of the resistors would be shorted out with a contactor, until the full voltage was applied to the armature.
The key here is that the resistors would have to survive the inrush current for only a few seconds. The resistors were made with heavy nichrome wire suspended on ceramic insulators.
Today, soft starting is best achieved with a PWM circuit