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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DreadPirateMurphy" data-source="post: 2656533" data-attributes="member: 20715">Here is another example.  Why are dragons not considered reptilian?  They have scales, and lay eggs.  How much of a difference is there between a wyvern and an awakened komodo dragon, really?Some of them are straight-forward and relatively easy to categorize:Construct:  animated or constructed creatureElemental:  composed of one of the four elementsFey:  creature with supernatural abilities and connections to nature or some other force or placeOoze:  amorphous or mutable creatureOutsider:  composed at least partially of the essence of another planePlant:  vegetable creaturesUndead:  once-living creatures animated by spiritual or supernatural forcesThen you get to various humanoids, and it isn't really clear what is a humanoid, a monstrous humanoid, or a giant.Giant:  humanoid-shaped creature of great strength, usually of at least Large sizeHumanoid:  two arms, two legs, and one head, or a human-like torso, arms, and a headMonstrous Humanoid:  similar to humanoids, but with monstrous or animalistc featuresWould somebody like to explain what is so "animalistic" about derro?  Why is a gnoll not "animalistic?"  Why does an ogre qualify as a giant, but not a minotaur?Then you get to beasties.  It would seem the difference between animals and magical beasts is just intelligence.  Vermin are invertibrates.Animal:  living, non-human creature, usually a vertebrate with no magical abilities and no innate capacity for language or cultureMagical Beasts:  similar to animals but can have Intelligence scores higher than 2Vermin:  insects, arachnids, other arthropods, worms, and similar invertibratesA roc counts as an animal, even though there is no way such a large avian could survive without magic.  A Hellwasp swarm is a swarm of magical beasts, but giant insects are actually vermin.  It is also unclear why darkmantles are magical beasts, but cloakers are aberrations.Aberration:  bizarre anatomy, strange abilities, an alien mindset, or any combination of the threeI would call a darkmantle's anatomy somewhat bizarre...Suddenly, we come to the creature so important that it is in the title of the game.Dragon:  reptile-like creature, usually winged, with magical or unusual abilitiesDragons are not magical beasts, or reptilian.  They include wyverns, even though wyverns are dumb as dirt.  What really defines a dragon?Anyway, I probably just have too much time on my hands...</blockquote>

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