The European dragon is a vast scaled reptilian beast with wings and a fire-breathing maw, and the image of it hoarding treasure and brooding atop it spread through legends across Europe. From the fire-drake of Beowulf to the legend of Saint George, this iconography settled into tabletop role-playing as a top-tier adversary representative of the genre.
Unlike the long-scaled, limbed dragons of East Asia (such as Zhulong), the Western strain is marked by its emphasis on bat wings and flame.