Henchmen level - too much of a penalty?

[Tomice]

As you probably know, you can only hire henchmen 1 level below your main char. It doesn't sound like much, but considering the low number of levels you can actually reach, it's quite the penalty.

 

I hired my first henchman before leaving the first village, when I had level 3 and 5000xp. The henchman got only 1000xp! He'll still be level 2 for quite some time after I hit level 4, and the penalty will accompany him for the whole game.

 

If I waited until I'm barely above the level 4 threshold (6000xp), he'd still be 3000xp behind.

 

 

 

Doesn't this penalty seem quite harsh, especially later on when each missing level means more xp?