Too bad about all the
crap after the first post.
It would be nice if all the BS could be cropped out.
What I like about Jaronk's philosophy regarding balance to the party vs. balance to the CR is when alternate rules like Gestalt are used (which is the ONLY style I DM.) CR's get scrapped just by saying, "Gestalt"... so design MUST build compared to the rest of the team.
Not to be an ass, but I'm only going to listen to someone with that perspective, because it implies practical experience. To stay "in step" with the CR's, we would have to nerf ALL full casting PC's and PrC's... it's easier to "step up" non casters to function with full casters at inflated CR's.
I would also agree that a well made class will have logical power increases in a sensible pattern.. that was one of the big deals regarding epic levels... how do you perpetuate a pattern?
The easiest solution is to select a "template" of ability progression seen in other classes, and scale the alotted power appropriately...
unfortunately, few of the non- casting classes can do this effectively.
For a fighter to remain competitive, it would have to be COATED in raw awesome that increases exponentially to maintain balance with cleric 20 and wizard 20.
The martial classes went a long way to closing the gap, but as has been cited in multiple threads throughout the intarweb, they are also lacking in raw power.. but they are better.
If the swordsage had been allowed to learn new powers from scrolls to add to his repetoir permanently.. now that would have probably been a new true contender on tier 1 or 2.
Too bad the 3.5 train got shut down.. coulda been a LOT of splat books with new martial power, PrC's and schools.
my .02