[quote=@Izurich]
Oh, I won’t refute your statement about me missing a piece of the puzzle. You are correct. I am well aware that I’m a bit weird when it comes to being sensitive about differences in raw power between the PCs, regardless of themes, nuances, and everything else.
[/quote]

Oooooooh trust me I understand completely. First D&D game I was ever in we rolled stats with a rather merciless GM and I ended up the lowest of the bunch, with the highest guy having 20 points over me. My character was completely useless in combat despite being a fighter. And was character-ending-event'ed out of game due to some stupid bullshit I won't get into here, and then the rest of the group joked about how they were gonna brutally murder her later.

I completely understand where you're coming from.