what are you talking about?? their stats are completely different! Even if you equip your characters with gear that has a bonus to certain stats, it still isn't enough to assume every character is the same. Now what happens if basch was your main black/time mage and used a bow?? Well that character wouldn't do as well if you had the same thing he was wearing, but equip it to say Penello... She was made to be a ranged spellcaster, unlike basch who has a poor MP pool and is made primarily for melee!
Funny.
In my game Basch was the strogest mage becuase thats how I used him.
Penelo was the hard hitter with Hammers and such.