Twinking, HC, SC...my thoughts

[the Langolier]

"Here, have a power-up that you as a character haven't earned but which I as a player have earned"

You can only play one character at a time though. How has a single character "earned" one item more than another *just* because it happened to drop for them, and not for another character? Both the characters in that situation leveled up the same amount, they both did the same amount of work. Had the items dropped the other way (class items dropped for the repsective class), what would be the difference? Luck?