On Pain Boys and Balance

What is the design goal for Painboys to make them balanced against their Apothecary/Sorceror/Warlock counterparts?

Below are the words of Nathan on this topic:

That we haven‘t decided yet. We have limitations, and Painboys have always been problematic. I think we‘ll just put in a self-applying ailment, so he‘s always in pain. Sounds logical amirite?

They are high on our list, but melee as a system for the entire game is far higher prioritized than a single class of a single faction, regarding balancing. C‘est la vie.