Honestly, I don't care how faithful the monster stats are. They have been changed so many times between editions that it is not consistent anyway. Statistics are the least important part. In the end, only few people will care. In addition, the Intellect Devourer is a much more iconic monster that will be known to most players. How many players do Lemure know? Ultimately, dnd itself encourages you to customize monsters to your needs.
Besides, the imp as boss fight is not very interesting, don't you think?
???
I totally don't agree. First, faithful monster stats determine what you're fighting. Not having faithful monster stats means you aren't fighting the thing you think you're fighting.
Imagine fighting a mind flayer that doesn't take control of people's minds or does anything with the mind. They just slash you with their hand claws. That's what Larian has done to the intellect devourers. I don't care what it looks like, if it doesn't act like an intellect devourer, it's not an intellect devourer.
Secondly, I don't mind at all if Larian and/or other devs create their own versions of monsters, but give them something different for a name - like Astral Plane Intellect Devourers or whatever. Part of being creative is that you invent new things, but if you're inventing new things give it new names. Don't call it a cat but make it act like a bird (unless you give it wings... lol... but then you'd have a tressym, now wouldn't you?)
Thirdly, the fact that many players have no idea what a Lemure is... that's EXACTLY why they should use it. How much more interesting is that than fighting the same things you've fought before in other games (intellect devourer in Neverwinter Nights, for example - which, by the way, used proper intellect devourer abilities and such and was very well done). That's one of my issues with BG3 right now also. Instead of using a variety of creatures and taking full advantage of the monster manual, they're giving us the same old monsters that other games have given us. Why the heck NOT throw lemures at us so players are like, "What the heck is that?" Why not throw a few more fiendish monsters in there? Bring the Blood War to the nautiloid and have winged demons like vrocks drop manes and dretches onto the decks to fight? I mean, at this point, I doubt they'd do this because of how far they are into production, but DUDE! Yes! Give us some different monsters to fight. Give us some new things and create some variety.
And lastly, I absolutely think an imp would make for an awesome Prologue Boss Fight. Creativity! That's the key. WotC has already provided a decent starting template for a working final boss imp.
Imagine this: Chrigs, the Imp - Final Boss Fight on the Nautiloid just before the helm. Chrigs has 13 AC and 15 HP (giving him a bit more than the average imp). He has a nasty scar on his head and a broken horn, and his right eye is missing - just an eye socket.
Chrigs begins by turning invisible as his two lemures charge at you to try to block you from getting to the helm. Chrigs reappears and attacks you with his sting. +5 to hit, he rolls 15 and hits. He does 4 damage and you make a Constitution save of 12. Success. You take half damage from his 3d6 poison. His roll is 9. So you've lost a total of 9 HP between the initial damage and the poison (with half damage because you succeeded in the save). You're a fighter, so most of your health is gone in one hit. Or maybe you're a mage. He just took you down in one hit.
Thankfully, you have Lae'zel and Shadowheart and Us. Lae'zel rushes up to him with sword and shield and attacks. Hits. Does 5 damage, but he's resistant. Dang! That's only 3 damage. He still has 12 left. Thankfully, Shadowheart has Guiding Bolt. She casts it and hits. 11 damage. So glad you saved it. He's only got 1 HP left because Guiding Bolt wasn't reduced.
Chrigs turns invisible again. The lemures attack, wounding Lae'zel. It's not much, but it's a bit. Shadowheart rushes up and heals you. Lae'zel attacks the lemures.
Chrigs reappears near the helm and has one of those brine bombs. He throws it at Lae'zel and deals damage to her. He then laughs and mocks her as he takes cover behind the helm. Together, your party finishes the lemures. Chrigs drinks a potion and rushes forward, positioning himself between you and the helm so he'll get an attack of opportunity with his sting if you attempt to run past him. Shadowheart tries again with Guiding Bolt and misses. Dang!
You attack. Lae'zel attacks. Still, he's standing either because of resistance or because you missed him. He transforms into a raven and flies up to something dangling over your heads. With a snip of his beak, he cuts it loose. It drops on Lae'zel.
See. There's all sorts of things you CAN do with an imp. You could give him a fun weapon. You could give him personality where he makes all sorts of fun remarks while he fights you. I'm sorry, but a taunting, devilish, mischievous imp as a boss fight for a Prologue makes a TON of sense and could be VERY rewarding and enjoyable.
I still prefer the current versions. I never really cared about statistics. In the older games, they didn't really care too much either. This is something that does not matter from RP's point of view. Minimum and maximum HP for mobs exists. The aim of the prologue is to make it "epic". It is a desperate defense of mind flayers against githyanki that local devils have chosen to get involved in. Another thing is that lemures can't fly and the devils didn't have time to prepare for real attack. The devils that appeared on the ship got there because they were fast enough. The entire prologue takes no more than a few minutes, otherwise the ship would be destroyed in Avernus. From a plot point of view, the presence of imps makes perfect sense. Leaving aside, the imp swarm looks better than the slime pile.
