Better Not Miss: Picture Pong with deus ex parabola

 deus ex parabola has sent me this picture, in order that I might explain it to her

On False Hearts

One does not need to live in the world for long, and have their hair go white, and grow wrinkles that mark their laughter and scowls, and let their many wounds heal into strong scars like the fabled tree-punching martial artists, to know that there are many heartless among us. They are those with cruel and arbitrary lines, disingenuine and capable of quite impulsive and unmeditated harm.

Out of rare shame, perhaps picked up like a flea from a wandering philosopher or some rough mode of living, some of these heartless creatures fashion for themselves a new heart, but because they are unacquainted with warmth of virtue they fashion lopsided things. Their imitations are mockeries of the heroes and sufferers they found in old storybooks, the ones they called stupid, simplistic, and unbelievable.

The heart, built with no medical knowledge, has its usual caricature-shape. It glows through the chest of the craftsperson, but they are relieved to find that no one can detect its light for the same reason that they could make it only with the greatest effort and to the least effect. Their embarrassing secret is safe. At this stage, it is usual for the heart to last until the winds of misfortune pick up, and it gutters and dies like a candle in the wind.

Sometimes, it doesn't.

A Class

Requires (paradoxically) a heart.

For every template attained, get +1 to HP and AC.

• C: Glow
• D: Shine

Glow: Your chest throbs with an invisible light, cast out to about 15' feet. You can see this invisible light, the light of others of this class, and any other invisible light you may come across. Especially cruel people within this light seem monochromatic to you, and if you wound them the light burns them for an extra +[template] damage.

Shine: Animals who are not hostile to you can see the invisible light in you, reducing the chance they will attack out of startlement. Morally upright animals, like dogs, may seek to help you. If you embrace someone and hold them close to your heart, you can spend any amount of HP to let them regain twice the amount lost. If two members of this class ever found each other, they would grow very close indeed.