When designing a class there are 3 important factors for any class. In order of importance:
1: Balance
2: Fun
3: Originality
I will use the Phys, CW and Knight as examples for explaining these (note: This is not an analysis of these classes and it will not take into account meany things about the classes such as their secondary ability’s):
Balence
How much can a class actually accomplish compared to all of the other ones.
For example take the Situation of a Cult game.
The CL erraticates every other night and hits 2 targets each time. He also converts 1 target every other night.
So Phys/Knight has an average of 1 target per night to save while the CW has only 1/2 of a target per night. However a successful phys only reduced effective KPN btw 1 per hit but CW reduces it by 2. The knight also reduces it by 2 but he can only do it twice per game to balance. This means that Phys and CW are exactly as impactful while knight is more impactful but is frail and doesn’t stick for the rest of the game.
However. A CL’s Erraticate is not the only attack. There is the NK who adds a kill every night and Rapture which literally points out a target and gives Phys good targets even when no one has outed. This makes Phys and Knight more impactful dispite CW being just as good in theory.
However. There is more to balence than just numbers. There is also Information. If someone is killed then BD learns thier class and logs and also the fact that they were killed. However conversion is the opposite and reveals that Information only to the Unseen/Cult and not revealing that they were converted. This makes barriering someone give you important information even on a failure.
The above means that Heal, Sacrifice and Barrier are sufficiently balanced.
Note: A balanced NK has an average KPN of 1 and a faction has an average KPN of 2+4
Fun
How interesting is this class to play with or against?
Knowing that you were impactful is the first way to make a class more fun. This is the reason why the Phys, Knight and CW all give feedback on their ability’s even if they didn’t actually have to. Without that feedback you feel useless even when your impact has been huge.
The second thing to keep in mind is interesting choices. The phys is decent in this regard because of the bleed and poison mechanics. The first thing it does is give you obvious targets to save. The second thing it does is create a level of mind games between you and the assassin. Is he just poisoning willy nilly or have they found an important class that they want to keep me off of? The Knight mostly has interesting choices in the form of his cold steal which is incomparable to heal. The CW however is only really useful if you stay on a single confirmed BD. If you switch up your targets then you jeopardize the certainty that the barrier gives you in the first place. This means that you have no interesting choices to make as the optimal play is clear.
The final thing is counter play. Using nightshade to draw away physicians from important targets? Using Knights against them as possessor? Directly attacking the CW target? The fact that none of these protection methods are foolproof means that it is interesting to have them in play. Even if converted targets are needed to get though it that just means that the information on who is who is more valuable to the Unseen/Cult than it otherwise would be.
Originality
By this I mean: Does the function of your class already exist in another one?
For CW this is simple. No other class counters conversion reliably so his ability is Unique.
For Phys and Knight we need to go a bit deeper than that. Do the 2 ability’s play out differently? First of all there is different methods to counter Phys that don’t counter the Knight, For example reaper and enforcer bypass heal. Knight is not bypasses by these but can be countered by a possessor and hit limited nature allows for a brute force approach. This makes the 2 classes also unique even without looking at their secondary ability’s.
If your class fulfills these 3 category’s then it’s probably a good idea.
