Meta:Vetala

Vetalaranas

In 2019, the Pathfinder Second Edition Bestiary 319 referred to "the psychic vetala" as a potential mechanical variant of moroi vampires in a sidebar to the mechanics of vampires. However, this is the only mention of vetalas in a Second Edition work.

In 2022, the release of Book of the Dead included mechanics for Second Edition vetalarana vampires, who are described consistently with the canon lore and mechanics of First Edition psychic vampires.

In 2023, Adam Daigle confirmed that First Edition psychic vampires and Second Edition vetalaranas were merged with the release of Second Edition. Daigle also claimed that vetalaranas and vetalas were "the same thing". However, in the context of the intentional differences between vetalas and psychic vampires in First Edition Occult Bestiary and lack of vetala-related content in Second Edition works, vetalas are more likely the equivalent of legacy content—left to past canon unless explicitly retroactively changed, and not to be revisited in future works.

For example:

• No published Second Edition work has associated the creation of vetalaranas with moroi vampires, nor with originating from the spirits of evil children, as vetalas were; vetalaranas in Second Edition are instead self-reanimating undead, as psychic vampires were described in First Edition.
• Vetalaranas consume memories and have no predilection for prana, traits that also explicitly distinguished vetalas from psychic vampires.
• Vetalaranas and psychic vampires are vulnerable to cold iron; vetalas are not.
• Vetalas are vulnerable to the sounds of mantras and prayer; psychic vampires are explicitly described as finding such attempts to deter them amusing, in direct contrast to vetalas, and vetalaranas also do not possess the vulnerability.

This article therefore should not be merged with vetalarana despite the official clarification, and should be retained and flagged as a First Edition subject. -Oznogon (talk) 17:28, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

This article should ideally be flagged as legacy content, but these changes are unrelated to the Pathfinder Remaster. See PathfinderWiki talk:Canon policy. Remove this content when the policy discussion is resolved. -Oznogon (talk) 17:28, 17 September 2024 (UTC)

Unincorporated sources

• Major focus on vetalas in Blood of the Night throughout --Fleanetha (talk) 22:02, 26 March 2013 (UTC)