Comparison with other classes and confrontation with other people is essential during the process.
For what I happened to see during the years, the majority of people ( all of us sometimes fall into this category ) fails to understand whether something is balanced or not.
Eventually, even if reasons are pointed out to them.
Apart from that, I also think that exposing the idea in a detailed way is a key factor to get good feedbacks and work on it.
Personally, what I tend to do is:
- Check for a similar class to start with ( Weapon proficiency, spellcasting, spell slots, hp pool, armor proficiency, etc... )
- Decide the perk symbol of the new class ( Rage, Champion Reaction, Sneak attack, etc... )
- Think about the class perks ( a champion gets a choice between 3 divine allies by lvl 3, which enhances its gameplay ).
- Cut down into actions a typical turn, in order to see how the class might be played ( For example, a swashbuckler will probably use a skill to gain panache, a strike/stride and a finisher. A caster will probably expend 2 actions to cast a spell, and the this for a recall knowledge, a focus spell or something else. And so on ). This way you will be able to see if the class can work or not ( remember to compare it with other classes ).
- Start with the "core" feats, then add optional/niche stuff.
- Consider multiclassing ( a class should be viable without multiclassing ).
Guess it's all.
Ps: if you use google drive, share it and allow comment from the other users ( this will speed things up ).
