Indeed... - Edit 2
Before modification by DomA at 21/11/2012 05:48:45 PM
By keeping things vague he allowed himself plenty of wriggle room for any Channeling eventuality. Basically he made it possible to have just about any Channeler to accomplish most things if necessary without completely screwing up his system.
I don't think the Forsaken need to be vastly stronger in the Power than modern AS, they have so much more knowledge they will seem god-like in comparison anyway. Not to mention RJ made it easy to add new Talents, skills, weaves that only one of the FS possessed or a random AS/WO/WF ... all of this adds up to a murky picture of what strength really is.
I don't think the Forsaken need to be vastly stronger in the Power than modern AS, they have so much more knowledge they will seem god-like in comparison anyway. Not to mention RJ made it easy to add new Talents, skills, weaves that only one of the FS possessed or a random AS/WO/WF ... all of this adds up to a murky picture of what strength really is.
There remains the fact except for Moghedien, the other female Forsaken have all impressed the third Agers with their strength. You'd think women used to Nynaeve wouldn't so impressionable if Nynaeve or Alivia are very close to the likes of Mesaana/Semirhage.
IMO this suggests a lot strength isn't linear, the further up and down the mean, the larger the gap between each level.
Keeping the strengths vague is a large part of what RJ intended, as you described. I think he also wanted to show it's not that relevant an issue among the Forsaken. It puts even more emphasis on the obsession for strength among AS.