Stats for the Three Musketeers

When I first started running Honor+Intrigue I thought that Athos, Porthos, and Aramis would be allies or possibly rivals for the player characters. One of the PCs, Lucien de Bourges, started as a Musketeer and became acquainted with Athos who taught him some fine points of swordsmanship. But alas, the plans of mice and GMs often go astray. Lucien's player took a gaming hiatus and for various reasons two of the PCs ended up working for Cardinal Richelieu. Now that Three Inseparables are rivals and enemies of some of the PCs. So in a way, the stats for the three have become even more important than if they were fellow Musketeers, acquaintances, and occasional allies.


For models, we voted on which of the various versions of the Musketeers should be used. A consensus, though not a unanimous one, was reached to use the characters from the Lester's 1973 film. Athos and Aramis tend to be fairly consistent between film and TV versions. The character that has the most variety is probably Porthos. In the Three Musketeers he is depicted much like the film versions. A bit vain with his partly gilded sash and certainly not the brightest of the four main characters. He is bluff, hearty, and loud and possibly larger than the other Musketeers though not exceptionally strong. However in Dumas' third tale, The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later Porthos is described as the "Hercules of France" and his death in the third part of the story, The Man in the Iron Mask, makes a main point of his mighty strength. This element of Porthos is usually downplayed or even wholly absent in film - with one exception. The clockpunk 2011 film version of the Three Musketeers has Ray Stevens (who was absolutely fabulous as Titus Pullo in HBO's Rome) playing an extremely mighty Porthos who hearkens back to the ending Dumas wrote for the Hercules of France.


To be fair, the BBC TV version of The Musketeers does make Porthos the strongest of the four, though not so strong as to count as a Hercules. The BBC program which airs on BBC America is well worth a watch. With the loss of Richelieu to Dr Who it has verged even further into alternate history, but every episode has some exciting dueling, a decent amount of intrigue, a few fascinating plots and NPCs to steal, and some really great props. Seeing actual matchlocks and wheellock weapons being used is a special treat.


So here are the Honor+Intrigue stats I use for the Three Musketeers.

Athos King's Musketeer and notable swordsman SR 7+ PC Image: PC20130531B-254 Location: King’s Musketeer Athos is the nom de guerre of one of the King’s Musketeers, a brooding, cultured soldier with an affinity for strong drink in large quantities. He is one of three comrades regarded as the best swordsmen in the company; Aramis and Porthos are the other two. The oldest of the trio, Athos is seen as their unofficial leader. Athos is served by a lackey named Grimaud, a Breton. Grimaud rarely speaks in the presence of his master, the two communicating by a sort of sign language. He taught Lucien de Bourges mastery of the Feint maneuver. He was recently wounded and defeated in a duel by Gaston Thibeault. Might 1                   Daring 3                  Savvy 1                   Flair 2 Brawl 1                   Melee 4                   Ranged 1                 Defense 2 Noble 3                   Duelist 3                  Soldier 2                  Sailor 0 Lifeblood 9              Composure 3           Advantage 5            Fortune 6 Boons: Daredevil, Dueling Style (French), Good Etiquette, Hard Drinker (Bonus Die to resist intoxication), Left Handed Training, Membership (King's Musketeers) Flaws: Arrogant, Drunkard, Terrible Secret (murdered his wife) Rapier: 1d6+1 Dmg; +1 Parry Dagger: 1d3+2 Dmg; 5' Range, +1 Called Shot Cloak: NA Dmg; +1 Bind, +1 Feint Maneuvers: Bladework+7, Brawling+4, Dirty Fighting+3, Disarm+5, Glide (Bonus+6), Hilt Punch+5, Lunge+7, Quick Cut+6, Tag (Bonus+6); Beat+5, Bind+5, Feint (Bonus+6), Footwork (Bonus+5), Grapple+2, Shove/Trip+3; Cloak Parry +6, Dodge, Parry +5, Riposte+5 NPC in: L'Honneur et les Intrigues (Fictional)

Porthos King's Musketeer and would-be gentleman            SR 7+ PC Image: PC20130531B-264 Location: King’s Musketeer Porthos is the nom de guerre of one of a trio of soldiers in the King’s Musketeer company. Though strong and large, he has the grace of a swordmaster or dancer. He is one of three comrades regarded as the best swordsmen in the company; Aramis and Athos are the other two. A practical, earthy man, Porthos is not as clever, intellecutal, nor as refined as his friends Aramis and Athos. He is the swordmaster who taught Aramis (Chevalier d’Herblay) to fence, he and Aramis together recently joined the musketeers after Aramis killed an important noble in an illegal duel. Two of his fellow Musketeers, Cadilhac and Termopillae have presuaded Porthos to avenge the Musketeers honor by fighting a duel with Gaston Thibeault. Porthos dresses the part of a courtier, subject to the fiscal limitations of both his vocation as a soldier and his skill as a Lothario. His fortunes are such that he rarely makes the impression he hopes. His clear intent is to marry a wealthy woman and retire to the life of a gentilhomme. Porthos is served by a lackey named Mousqueton, a man who like his master aspires to the finer things in life. Porthos’ mistress is clever, gray-eyed Madam Athenais Coquenard who is married to an old, wealthy, but miserly attorney. Porthos was recently defeated by Norbert Thibeault, a giant Cardinal’s Guard who brained Porthos with a large flower urn. Porthos claims he will get his revenge once his head heals. Might 3                   Daring 2                  Savvy ‑1                  Flair 1 Brawl 2                   Melee 3                   Ranged 1                 Defense 1 Gentleman 0            Duelist 2                  Soldier 2                  Don Juan 1 Lifeblood 15            Composure 3           Advantage 5            Fortune 4 Boons: Dueling Style (French), Membership (King's Musketeers), Strength Feat, Flaws: Arrogant, Braggart Rapier: 1d6+3 Dmg; +1 Parry Dagger: 1d3+4 Dmg; 5' Range, 1d3+2 Dmg; +1 Called Shot Cloak: NA Dmg; +1 Bind, +1 Feint Cane: 1d6+2 Dmg; Maneuvers: Bladework+5, Blade Throw+4, Brawling+4, Choke/Crush+5, Disarm+6, Dirty Fighting+3, Glide (Bonus+4), Hilt Punch+6, Lunge+5, Tag (Bonus+4), Beat+6, Bind+6, Feint (Bonus+4), Footwork (Bonus+2), Grapple+5, Shove/Trip+5, Cloak Parry +4, Dodge, Parry +2, Riposte+2, Stop‑Thrust +5; Ranged Attack +0 NPC in: L'Honneur et les Intrigues

Aramis King's Musketeer and occasional student of theology       SR 7+ PC20130531B-251 Location: King’s Musketeer Aramis is the nom de guerre of the Chevalier d’Herblay. He is one of three comrades regarded as the best swordsmen in the company; Athos and Porthos are the other two. Aramis and his friend Porthos together recently joined the musketeers after Aramis killed an important noble in an illegal duel – Porthos was the swordmaster who taught the would-be cleric to fence. Together with their friend Athos, they form a trio of soldiers in the King’s Musketeer company. Aramis is clever with a Jesuit trained intellect and a natural flair for the intricate politics and schemes of the court. Aramis claims to be serving in the musketeers only until such time as he takes vows to become a priest, However, he is considered an intelligent but diffident student. Aramis is better known for his mistresses and his skill with the rapier. He is served by a lackey named Bazin, a pious man who looks forward to the day when Aramis takes his vows, so that he can serve a member of the clergy. He recently fought a duel to a draw with Jacques Dlancey, one of the Cardinal’s Red Guards. Aramis claims he could have defeated Dlancey but he instead proposed a draw as a matter of strategy as Dlancey was about to be reinforced by two other Red Guards. Might 0             Daring 2            Savvy 3             Flair 2 Brawl 0             Melee 3             Ranged 1           Defense 2 Don Juan 3        Clergy 1            Duelist 2            Soldier 1            Courtier 2 Lifeblood 8          Composure 3       Advantage 5        Fortune 6 Boons: Dueling Style (Spanish), Friends in Many Places: (I know a man…), Jack of All Trades, Membership (King's Musketeers), Savant, Silver Tongue Flaws: Hot-Headed, Lustful Rapier: 1d6 Dmg; [+1] Parry T. Knife: 1d3+1 Dmg; 10’ range, +1 Called Shot, +1 Quick-Draw, ‑1 Melee Cloak: NA Dmg; +1 Bind, +1 Feint Maneuvers: Bladework+5, Dirty Fighting+2, Glide+5, Quick Cut (Bonus+5), Tag (Bonus+5), Feint+5, Footwork (Bonus+6), Dodge, Parry+6[+7], Riposte+6 NPC in: L'Honneur et les Intrigues

Wonder of wonders the formatting looks pretty good. The NPC record I use in play pasted nicely into Blogger. I use half page sheets for the important NPCs.
Acknowledgements: I used the stats from Black Vulmea's excellent web site as the starting point for the Three Musketeers. Here are his originals: Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.

Odds for random encounters

JD Jarvis had an interesting post on encounters and encounter frequency. While I've always used different encounter tables based on terrain type or location, JD raised an interesting point.

JD rightly points out that terrain should not be the only variable in encounter probability. For example, a party traveling along an unforested ridgeline should be much easier to spot (potentially leading to more encounters) than a party who is carefully moving along low spots and using available cover to keep out of sight. A party that is staying hidden in a cave should have fewer encounters than one that has spread out for foraging or hunting. Bad weather - say a cold, hard rain - will cause both sentient and non-sentient creatures to find shelter and stay in it which should lessen the odds of an encounter.

While raising an interesting issue, and an issue that I have not seen addressed in game rules, sadly the article doesn't suggest a solution. Rather than trying to mechanically account for every possible factor, I think a simpler solution would be preferable. Using a few categories of odds. Something like, an encounter is:

1. Very Likely (five times the average probability)
2. Somewhat Likely (twice the average probability
3. Average Likelihood (this would be the default or typical encounter probability)
4. Somewhat Unlikely (half of the average probability)
5. Very Unlikely (one fifth of the average probability)

The actual probabilities could change. What I want is some significant differentiation between possible states of affairs.  Next we need a list of factors to include both positive and negative.

These make an encounter more likely:

• Terrain has high population density.
• Party is travelling on a road or trail.
• Party is in a settlement or urban area.
• Party is spread out and in motion: foraging, searching, hunting, or grazing mounts.
• Party is moving using lights at night or has a fire that is visible from a distance.
• Party is making a lot of noise.
• Party is using visible or detectable magic.

These make an encounter less likely:

• Terrain has low population density.
• Party moves during off hours.
• Party is moving in cover and avoiding ridgelines. Movement slowed by 50%.
• Party is staying in shelter or has posted sentries.
• Party has no fire at night. Chance of cold or exposure.
• Weather is adverse to travel: windy, rainy, cold, unusually hot, etc.

To keep things simple, treat each of the more likely conditions as a +1 and the less likely conditions as a -1 then total the modifiers.

3+ or more      Very Likely (five times the average probability)

+2                   Somewhat Likely (twice the average probability

-1 to +1           Average Likelihood (this would be the default or typical encounter probability)

-2                    Somewhat Unlikely (half of the average probability)

-3 or less         Very Unlikely (one fifth of the average probability)

Now we need to use an encounter probability that can scale with our five categories of likelihood. I want something that is easy to roll and understand but that scales well with the range I set. From long experience with Runequest and Call of Cthulhu I think a d100 will work well. I'll set the average probability of an encounter at 10%. That means my five categories will look like this.

Modifier         Encounter Likelihood        Probabilty

3+ or more      Very Likely                              50%

+2                    Somewhat Likely                     20%

-1 to +1           Average Likelihood                  10%

-2                    Somewhat Unlikely                  05%

-3 or less         Very Unlikely                           01%

I've intentionally left the unit of time between rolls unspecified. In an old school game of D&D random encounters are frequent. In my Honor+Intrigue game which is modeled after a mix of swashbuckling fiction and actual Early Modern Europe, many 'encounters' would be extremely mundane and pretty uninteresting e.g. small herd of dairy cows, goose girl with flock of geese, peasants walking to or from their field, etc. So there I prefer less frequent encounters. Something like 10% per day sounds about right for me.

In addition, I would treat these as guidelines not as hard and fast rules. For example, if Loud Noises like drunken singing or chopping firewood are +1, then setting off grenades, cannons, or barrels of gunpowder might be +2 or even +3 all by themselves.

EDIT: My formatting skills in Blogger really suck. Sorry. Guess I need to spend some time figuring out how the format works. Copying in from MS-Word yields inconsistent results.

UPDATE: I have a follow up post suggesting an alternate solution based on another post by JD Jarvis.

Star Trek Continues

This is off topic for this blog, but I just have to mention this thing I found...well actually my wife found it. While searching for something that now escapes her recall. We both wondered how, as long time Star Trek fans, we could be completely unaware of this....

Well enough with the preamble. If you haven't seen it, you must watch the web series, Star Trek Continues. It is eerily faithful to the tone, look, and style of the original series. The acting is acceptable, some is good, some just OK, and some is excellent. The special guest star, Michael Forest is outstanding. Overall the show is amazing. The sets, camera angles, music, and SFX sounds are exactly like the old show. It's a non-profit effort that looks to be much the creation of Vic Mignogna, who did the voice of Edward Elric in the Full Metal Alchemist. Vic does a good job playing Captain Kirk, who he looks much like in several shots, and also co-wrote, directed, and edited the first episode. I haven't watched the other episodes yet, but based on the first one it is well worth 51 minutes of your time.


This show is clearly a labor of love. It is the series that you and your nerdy friends wanted to create back in high school or college, except the people who created this are professionals who did a great job and made a show that other people would actually want to watch.


Live long and prosper.