Quick Question: Monster Classes and Subclasses

[Kromm]

I don't think that dragons would be a unified "species" in classic kitchen-sink fantasy. In Dungeon Fantasy terms, there would be:

• Animal (Dire): Dumb crocs, lizards, and snakes capable of breathing fire or otherwise doing the impossible thanks to magic.*
• Animal (Giant): Huge, dumb lizards and snakes, their size and vast dietary needs curbed by magic.*
• Demon: Winged, fire-breathing creatures from Hell, both intelligent and Evil.†
• Divine Servitor: As Demon, but Good.‡
• Faerie: Serpents of pure magic. I'd classify the intelligent versions of the things listed under Animal (Dire), Animal (Giant), and Hybrid here.
• Hybrid: Various dumb reptilian things that happen to have wings and flight thanks to magic.*
• Mundane: Leftover dinosaurs of all descriptions.
• Spirit: Various primal urges given visuals that somebody would describe as "dragon."

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* Remember that being magical doesn't change being an animal in this genre! The acid spider, flesh-eating ape, foul bat, frost snake, and triger are all dire animals, despite having impossible anatomy and weird powers. In many cases, all magical powers do is add the word "dire" in front or justify a made-up name like "gryphon." The unusual trait that changes something from animal to not-animal is sapience, not magic as such.

† The proper origin of dragons in Western mythology, actually, and what I'd recommend for the huge, treasure-hording, people-eating monsters of fantasy.

‡ The usual "good" version of the classic dragon, found mainly in Chinese and Mesoamerican myth, but also in kitchen-sink fantasy that insists that the demonic kind have a nice-guy counterpart.