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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 6177556" data-attributes="member: 17106">A few of my main principles:*I don't do dead levels. Dead levels suck.*To avoid dead levels, I try to approach classes with rhythmicity; bonuses gained every three levels, feats gained every four. Class abilities that are related might update every six levels. Some consistent number.*I typically design the level 1 and level 20 abilities first, and then try to parse everything as evenly as possible to form a progression. The level 1 abilities can be quite powerful but I give the character whatever it needs to be some kind of meaningful expression of the class concept from day 1. The level 20 capstone is typically a "limit-breaker" that allows characters to do things that aren't usually allowed (reroll dice, change the limits for actions in a round, etc.), combined with several other arbitrary but powerful perks.*I also tend to load a little extra ability at level 2 to discourage one level dipping.When deciding what ability goes at what level, I tend to look at the precedents, but I often go earlier than them, because I don't expect characters to reach high levels that often and I want the cool stuff to get used. In general, I'll pick abilities that already exist and copy them in, or I'll make new ones that resemble existing abilities.Maybe then at this point I'll have some thought process with myself on "how powerful is this really?", but I'm still not doing a lot of math, and not doing a lot of 1 to 1 comparisons. All of which is to say, the balance aspect isn't completely irrelevant, but it's not the first thing I think about, and it's not the most important criterion when I judge how good of a job I did at the end. The most important thing to me is does the class live up to the premise? If it's a knight, can I look at it and see the honor, dignity, and skill? If it's a warlock, can I see the fiendish bargain's effects and get the sense of magic being dangerously unhinged? Etc., etc.My approach to class design was largely developed in writing classes for the Psychic's Handbook. These were new creations, as the handbook has an interesting system but only one crappy class with no real abilities to support it. I then went back and applied the same principles to a couple of dozen published classes.</blockquote>

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