The Final Fantasy franchise has used four powerful bosses with elemental themes since the first game in the series, which is something that has also been used a lot in Dungeons & Dragons. Final Fantasy IV had its own set of iconic elemental villains in the form of the Archfiends, and these can easily be used as bosses in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
The first member of the Archfiends is Scarmiglione, who is also known as the Blighted Despot. Scarmiglione is the Archfiend of earth, and it's a powerful undead monster with the ability to inflict status effects on the enemy. Scarmiglione is a sneaky creature who will attempt to use the battlefield to its advantage when it finally works up the courage to confront the party. The battle against Scarmiglione will act as a taster for the tougher encounters to come, as the other members of the Archfiends barely consider it to be worthy of membership in the group. Despite their mockery of Scarmiglione, it will still present a tough challenge for a level five party of adventurers.
Setting The Scene - The Blighted Despot
Scarmiglione is intended to be a powerful boss encounter, so the party should be fully rested before attempting it. Scarmiglione will set a trap for the party in a location where they need to move in a single file, such as crossing a rope bridge or traversing a long corridor in a dungeon. This is so it can make the most of its Thunder ability during the initial phase of the battle. Scarmiglione will be accompanied by ten zombies during the initial phase of the battle and it will use them to act as a defensive line in order to keep the party members away. Once the party manages to destroy the first form, any remaining zombies will also perish on the spot and crumble to dust. The party will then have two rounds in which to heal/buff before the monster form of Scarmiglione erupts from the ground and the second phase of the battle begins.
Scarmiglione (Spellcaster) 1st Form Stats
Scarmiglione (Monster) 2nd Form Stats
Strategy & Tactics
Scarmiglione is intended to be a tough encounter and the party will need to expend most of its resources in order to succeed. A party with divine spellcasters will have an easier time with this fight, as they can quickly dispose of the zombies and be ready to remove any debuffs that Scarmiglione will inflict on the group. It helps to drop hints before the battle that Scarmiglione is weak to fire, in order to give the arcane spellcasters a heads-up regarding the tactics they should use.
1st Phase - Scarmiglione will use the zombies as a defensive wall to keep the party away and it will have no problem blasting through them with Thunder if it means hitting an enemy. It will use its incorporeal form to put itself in an as advantageous position as possible for hitting a line of enemies with Thunder and will only resort to its Life Drain if Thunder has yet to recharge.
2nd Phase - Scarmiglione now has the strength to go toe-to-toe with the party. Its first priority is to inflict as many party members with slow effects with Cursed Elegy, before spamming Gas every turn to try and poison its foes. A canny party will quickly work out the AoE of the Gas attack and will attempt to surround Scarmiglione, which will be the most effective way to take it down.