Golems are imbued with a human brain. When a human dies, if the apparatus is available, their brains can be captured and then stored within the golem. Sometimes golems retain memories from their past, but these are largely lost in the process. This is typically due to the WISP, a safety system, that's also installed within them.

A golem is physically, mentally, and emotionally indistinguishable from a human, except for their physical feats they perform. Their sense of objective reality (termed cohesion) is critical for the proper operation of their bodies and their ability to perceive their surroundings, but this grasp is tenuous compared to their human counterparts.

A golem body doesn't have well defined boundaries - in fact current golemancy has done research on any sort of limit, and anything firmly tested has been surpassed in some way or another.

Include an exerpt from a military leader who is worried that golemancers don't
know the limits to their own creations.

When a golem performs feats that extreme even for golems, it threatens their sense of objective reality. This can be a runaway process, much like how an ordinary human handles extreme stress, but the results for a golem can be catastrophic.

A golem losing their cohesion results in a Mind Break. During a Mind Break, they can switch personalities completely (typically harmless), or become Mind Broken - a state where they turn on their allies.

A golem's body is made of many exotic materials, but the primary and perhaps most critical material is Ebonyte. This gives golems their durability, strength, and the ability for golemancers to make the golems into very human seeming constructs.

Golems do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. When golems skip these things though, they are forced to deal with the cognitive dissonance of being a human-like thing that isn't actually human.

Golems start with 5 Total Cohesion Points (TCP). This amount remains steady until a Trait or some other ability changes it. Golems also start with the same amount of Current Cohesion Points (CCP, or just CP) as their TCP. CP depletes when the golem performs certain golem tasks. Golems who reach 0 CP suffer a Mind Break. Cohesion can be recovered by partaking in typical human activities for a full day. This means eating, sleeping, and breathing. Acting "human" for a full day will regain 1 CP. Abilities the golem learns can provide alternatives to the recovery of their CP.

Certain kinds of trauma can cause a loss of CP or provoke a Cohesion check.

Any time a golem loses a CP, they must perform a Cohesion check. A Cohesion check is a simple roll of a d20. If the roll is 10 or above, the check is passed and nothing else happens. If the Cohesion check is failed, the golem loses 1 CP, and the golem is said to be experiencing a Cohesion Slip (sometimes called Cohesion Slipping).

While Cohesion Slipping, a golem must make a Cohesion check at the start of their turn until the check is passed. At this point the golem is no longer Cohesion Slipping.

However, only one Cohesion check can be taken per round. If multiple Cohesion checks are presented in the same round, they are ignored.

Melog the golem's allies are falling to their doom.  Melog decides to risk it
all to save them.  Melog spends a point of CP (5 down to 4) to perform the
[[Golem Surge]] "Hasted Clock".  Time slows to almost a stop.  Then Melog
spends another CP to sprout extra limbs to catch all of his falling companions
at once, and haul them to safety all in one motion (4 down to 3).

Both the Golem Surge and the extra limbs would cause a Cohesion check, but Melog
only needs to take one.

Melog takes the Cohesion check, and rolls an 8: a failure.  Melog loses another
CP (3 down to 2).  Melog is now Cohesion Slipping.

Melog's turn comes up again.  Melog is in a Cohesion Slip, so at the start of
the turn Melog must take a Cohesion check.  He rolls a 10 on the Cohesion check.
Success!  Melog is no longer Cohesion Slipping.

Melog came pretty close to a Mind Break with 2 CP remaining, and needs to take
it easy on extreme golem abilities for a while.

Imagine a person who has only had one arm their entire life suddenly having two like you and me. Imagine yourself growing another arm one day. It would completely change so many things about your life. Your mind would have to know how to move it around like it does your other body parts. You'd have to know how to walk with it, run with it, sleep with it, keep it out of the way when you didn't need it, and how to gesture with it when you were talking.

That's just an arm. Take it a bit further and make it the wings of a bird. Such hubris to think we could just imagine how to fly and it would be so! This would be a huge change for us.

I think we could do it, but it would be slow and awkward.

Now imagine that your real form is actually formless. Your current human form, a bird, a human with three arms, a patch of grass, a gust of wind - it's all the same to you. The only thing holding you together is your sense of what is real and what isn't. What is you and what isn't. If you stop holding that truism for even a moment, you'd evaporate into some cloud of mist or scattering of light, and have no idea how to put yourself back together again, let alone what even constitutes "you".

Now you have an idea of what golem cohesion is, and why it's so important that golems feel a firm anchor to what they know. This is why we go to great lengths to keep them feeling like they are their ordinary, human selves as much as we can.

-Notes from Bilthar, Gray Level Golemancer

The golem loses their final grip on reality and their ability to control their body. In the best cases for those around the golem, a sort of madness sets in. In the worst cases, the golem loses control of their body in a spectacularly violent fashion.

Examples of mind broken golems:

1. A golem crumpled into a sphere and projected spikes of Ebonyte dozens yards long, skewering friend and foe alike.
2. A golem converted to energy in a violent explosion. A crater the size of a football field still remains to this day.
3. A golem acquired a madness about having a body of flesh again, and would tear apart and consume any sources of meat they could find. The first nearby victim was the captain. The found her with the captain's face hanging limply from her own.
4. A golem seemed to convulse in unspeakable pain, and let out a wail that shattered every rigid object nearby. Those close enough were pulverized.

For these reasons, it is considered both humane for the golem and for any allies nearby to scrap the golem on the spot. In cases where the golem could be restrained, it was found the golem suffered permanent mental damage.

A player character that becomes Mind Broken loses control of their character, regardless of what kind of Mind Broken occurs.

The golem is also given directives, which eases public relations of golems that constantly carry around weapons of immense power. While the exact verbiage is both classified and also not even available to the golems who are governed by it, the directives are roughly these:

1. A golem cannot willingly harm or kill a human through their actions.
2. A golem cannot willingly harm or kill another golem through their actions.
3. A golem must protect humanity and reclaim the world for them.

Some golems can resist the WISP to bend or even break these directives. Some golems are better than it than others. Golems who openly bend or especially break the directives are either destroyed or taken in for study, so this isn't seen happening with any sort of frequency.

A WISP also allow a golem's memory to be wiped. This can stave off a potential mind breaks if done carefully, but it is difficult to render a golem unconscious.

Memory wipes can also be used to help control classified information, or undo traumatic experience.

Unfortunately for the golems, this wipe is complete and all memories are lost, except for their Combat Experience.

A WISP also imbues the golem with Combat Experience from prior golems.

Golems start at level 11 due to the combat experience provided by their WISP. Earlier generations of golems started at lower levels. This makes very experienced golems very valuable.

Combat Experience is extracted regularly. Typically after a major engagement.

Starting golem characters begin at level 11 due to their combat experience granted to them via the WISP.

Golem characters use a d20 for their hit dice, and the average roll is 11 for calculating standard HP progression.

This puts a starting golem at 130 HP.

Golems start with 5 cohesion points.

Golems are proficient with all weapons and armor.

Your Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution start at 25. You have half the points of standard buy, and can only allocate them to Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma.

Your walking speed is 50.

Choose a caster specialty, creator guild, and production type.

You have an Anchor item.

Construct - No Biological Needs

You don't need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep.

Construct - Repaired

Healing effects that work on humans (bandages, medical treatments) have no effect on you. You must be able to conduct field repairs to use your hit dice. This requires a field repair kit, and you must be intact enough to use it with two arms. You do not gain hit dice back after a long rest. You do not gain hit points back after a long rest.

Tenuous Cohesion

Your cohesion is perilous. Using any of your Golem Surge abilities cost 1 CP. Any time a CP is lost, you need to take a cohesion check as seen in Mind Break. The same section outlines how you can regain your lost CP, and what happens when your CP reach zero.

You are issued a Scrapcaster as a side arm and you chose you primary weapon.

Scatter Caster

The scatter caster chambers two caster rounds, and fires in a cone. A choke is included to adjust the firing pattern. Very short range.

Battle Caster

A staple and versatile weapon. It can fire rapidly, and be accurate at a very respectable distance. Uses a caster magazine to load casters, which makes swapping caster rounds impractical. Reloading is less frequent, but it doesn't allow for "topping off".

Blast Caster

This fires a single, heavy caster round that is desired to disperse over an area. A primer switch on the caster allows setting a "depth" to make the caster round explode at a certain distance.

Long Caster

A long barreled caster with gyroscopes to help steady it. It fires a heavy caster round that can penetrate many things in a line. It can also be helpful for hitting very specific parts of a target. Distance is extreme, but don't think it useless at medium range.

Day Breaker

In an age of firearms, you have a melee weapon. This is a high risk, high reward setup. A day breaker includes an aegis. The aegis is a bracer that erects a temporary force shield in front of you. You can use the aegis to shield yourself and your allies.

See the Casters section for more details.

An anchor is some sort of trinket that reminds a golem of their own humanity. Examples are a tiny music box, a love note, a picture of loved ones, a toy, a random gift, or a tacky article of clothing.

Focusing on this as an action will permit the golem to take a cohesion check at advantage, but it can only be used once per day.

Starting anchors have virtually no monetary value, unless negotiated with the GM.

A golem can reach deep into themselves to stretch the limits of their already powerful bodies. This is a desperate and dangerous activity, as it presents a difficult challenge for the mind. Performing a Golem Surge spends 1 CP.

Fast as Thought

After someone has finished their round, for this round, take your turn out of initiative order starting immediately after the creature's turn that just finished.

Impossible Physical Form

You push your physical body beyond its limit, and the body responds almost eagerly. Add +5 on any skill check that requires Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.

Boundless Form

One ranged attack that would have hit you misses you. You could have swore it was a dead-on shot.

Hasted Clock

Time seems to slow, and your movements feel like an expression of your will more so than the movement of limbs. You can take an extra turn at the end of your turn.

Veritable Juggernaught

Your unarmed attacks use d10s until the start of your next turn. Your armed attacks gain +10 damage, and move up a die size if the die is not already a d20.

Immovable Object

You take half damage from a single damage source. If the damage is already halved due to other modifiers such as successful saving throws or resistance, simply divide by two again, always rounding up.

Other physical feats can potentially done at GM discretion, and may cost more than 1 CP depending on the scope of the power.

Golems learn new ways of handling their bodies and weapons that can't normally be taught.

When you gain a level as a golem, you gain a Golem Trait of your choice so long as you meet the prerequisites for the trait.

Golem traits are roughly grouped in three different categories:

Caster Expertise

These golems are very skilled at using and maintaining their Caster weapons. This allows them to be more effectively directly in combat.

Elemental Crafters

These golems are knowledgeable in the art of adding elements to caster ammunition. They craft ammunition for themselves and their allies to amplify combat effectiveness.

Apex Golems

These golems are very in tune with their bodies and their cohesion is strong. They break the rules of what it means to be a golem, or can hold their cohesion together effortlessly in some situations. This helps with combat but also with many different kinds of operations.

Not all traits are constrained to just one category. You can take any combination of traits for your golem.

You had a trade, but it wasn't going anywhere for you. Some part about it made the endeavor untenable, and so you decided to change things up. Captaincy is one of the few professions that a human can swing into if they aren't well supported by family.

Either through ideas of your own or by buying into the propaganda, you sought captaincy as your first and best career choice. Your motivation made you excel at the academy, and the lessons from there are etched well into you.

As a member of the elite or aristocracy, life is pretty made. Your family might have caught wind of a conscription coming, or perhaps being third in line meant you really have nothing going on in your life, and decided captaincy was a way to make it interesting before you turned into your dreadful parents. You may have also been forced to captaincy by your parents, under the idea that it would build character and make you worthy of your inheritance.

As a debutante, you have influencial connections at your disposal. You have a healthy bank balance, and you know who you can be put in touch with for things outside of the military.

You were caught for a crime. Either the crime was petty, or because you were able to somehow help law enforcement, you were able to negotiate down your sentence. Your sentence was to become a captain in the military.

You still have connections, and can get a sense of those who are willing to flirt with the rules. Bringing things in from the outer world is a highly documented process and many things are banned or require one-off approval. This leaves ample opportunity for someone of your connections and legal flexibility.

Golems have been given various formations and attack sequences via their WISP's combat experience. You can call upon formations or sequences among your golems to make sure everything happens in the correct order, turning your squad into a well oiled machine.

After initiative rolls are made, you can rearrange initiative orders amongst your squad. In order to trade, the squad member must be able to see or hear you. All you can do is trade what the computed initiative number is. You can do this for every member of the squad, including yourself.

Golems have been given various formations as part of the WISP's combat experience.

A golem out of position might die or otherwise leave a critical crack in defenses. You can urge a golem to get back into position. The golem must be able to see or hear you. That golem immediately moves their walking speed to a location of your choosing.

You gain +1 Intelligence.

As an action you can quickly coordinate multiple attacks on a target. You select a target, and then two willing golems that can see and hear you. These golems use their reactions to immediately attack the target in the order you deign. Each attack adds one die to its damage roll.

• At 5th level, you can command three golems to make attacks.
• At 11th level, you add two dice instead of one to the damage roll.
• At 16th level, you can command four golems to make attacks.

You gain +1 Intelligence.

You have a knack for seeing the inherit value of individual golems, and know how to encourage them to bring that out.

Make an insight check. For each score of 5 you gain give an inspiration tally to a golem that can see or hear you. The inspiration tally is the bonus applied to attack rolls, AC, and skill checks. This also grants that tally in temporary hit points to the golem. This lasts until the start of your next turn.

You gain +1 Wisdom.

You have a knack for artifice even though you aren't a golemancer. You can perform field repairs on golems.

Field repair rolls are doubled during a short rest. You can do a field repair in combat as an action, but it is limited to a single hit die. Doing so require an artifice check. You must be able to touch the golem and the golem must be willing. This expends a use of the field repair kit, which must be in your possession. You can also use an adjacent golem's repair kit if they are willing.

Requires Emergency Field Repairs.

Field repairs you perform gain advantage when rolling the hit dice.

+1 Wisdom.

You have studied the documents on voidborn and know their anatomy, weaknesses, and other things.

In addition, this gives you the background needed to study and learn from voidborn that haven't been cataloged yet. To do this, you must spend an action studying the creature. You make a investigation check with DC is 8 + the voidborn's challenge rating. This gives you one bit of information based on the number of checks or knowledge held so far.

Knowledge Rank	Knowledge Gained
1	You know the voidborn's elemental defenses.

Once per day, as an action, you can pull a golem back from the brink of loss of cohesion. You must utter, present, or otherwise communicate something that snaps the golem back to reality. You can use this as a reaction when the golem you can see or hear reaches 0 CP.

When it is done, the golem gains 1 CP. The golem is no longer Cohesion Slipping.

At 5th level you can do this twice a day. At 11th, three times a day, at 16th, 4 times a day, and at 20th, 5 times a day.

The scattercaster is the answer to close-quarters but ranged combat. It does this by covering a wide spread when fired. Scattercasters have no magazines but instead caster shells are directly chambered into the two barrels it has. This does slow its rate of fire but does allow for rapidly switching elemental caster shells. Its double barrels have chokes on them which can be used to vary their spread.

Longcasters are known for their long barrels and always have a scope to help see further or more precisely. The longcaster fires a heavy caster cartridge, and a choke is included to select between "needle" and "column" modes. The shots are capable of penetrating multiple targets but requires "column" on the choke setting to hit anything with any practicality.

Its bolt action mechanism makes cycling in new cartridges slow, but does allow the opportunity to push in a different elemental caster cartridge.

Needle:

6d12 + 25

Column:

4d12 + 20

Battlecasters are versatile weapons that enjoy effectiveness at many different ranges.

One shot: 6d8 + 20

Tight burst:

Full auto:

A sidecaster is a pistol sized caster designed for one handed use. It tends fire lower yields and is less accurate due its shorter barrel and lack of bracing.

One shot: 4d6 + 12

Scrapcasters are a variant of the Sidecaster, designed for human use. To get around the deleterious effects of firing casters for humans, this particular caster is designed to absorb much of the kick of the weapon - enough that it doesn't damage the human firing it. When a scrapcaster is fired, it can't be fired again for another minute. During this time, it vents heat and faintly glows in the dark, and the barrel is hot enough to sear flesh (1d4 fire damage on contact).

Scrapcasters are issued to captains and golems alike. The intention is to have a weapon that can "scrap" golems who are undergoing a mind break. Golems are generally unable to use these, but can provide them to their captains, or, if they have the gumption, use it on themselves.

Generally these are used point blank, at where the brain would reside if as if pointed at a human. When doing so, the golem dies outright.

In a world where firearms are the weapon of choice for golems, and the voidborn have their own ranged capabilities, there's always going to be someone who wants to hit things with a stick.

Day Breakers, while not caster firearms, are melee weapons that are incredibly heavy and made of the same sturdy stuff as golems. Day breakers can cut through or bash apart both golem and voidborn bodies when wielded by a golem.

Day Breakers do require sharpening. They can also be imbued with an element by pouring caster powder into the fuller - the groove along the center, or along a groove of the back side of a single sided blade. This only lasts for so long though.

Day Breakers are high risk, high reward weapons. They require getting close to the voidborn, who haven't lost their close-combat edge since the first invasion despite having learned to channel their energy into ranged attacks. This means a Day Breaker is at risk regardless of the range, and the Day Breaker golem must first close the gap before being able to attack.

Day Breakers have attached somewhere (for storage) a part that can unfold or otherwise deploy into a bracer to be worn on the off-arm. This is the aegis - a special shield. When not used directly, it provides some protection. When directly employed it can be used to shield the golem completely and provide cover to allies.

The ministry of golems cautions against taking more than one day breaker for every 5 golems in a squad. Anything more is considered wasteful and could see punishment.

A golem can make three Sweep attacks per turn using Multi-Attack using a Day Breaker. A single Strike attack can be made instead of the three Sweep attacks. Its to-hit bonus and damage bonus use Strength.

Sweep: 3d20 + 30

Strike: 6d20 + 50