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I think the only rule is that you do not change it so much that it is no longer recognized as what it is.

It is a personal belief of mine that a lot of fantasy races and creatures have at least one universal element no matter what story they are in. Some examples:

-Vampires leech off life force. The very name more or less denotes predatory behavior.
-Dragons are reptilian, even if they have some sort of mane or fur, or if they live in water, or if they have hundreds of legs or none at all.
-Dwarves are short.
-Ghosts are leftovers of what was once alive.

Etc.

So long as the creature has its one defining rule, the author can, for better or for worse, do whatever the hell they want from them---even Meyer's sparklepires feed. Just do not break my suspension of disbelief by saying your dwarves are twenty feet tall, or that your vampires needs no life sustenance to exist (things like growing potions and finding alternate feeding methods notwithstanding). Then it cannot be a vampire (it is a zombie at that point) or a dwarf (something that tall is a giant), because it lacks the one trait that defines those species.