Changing what is affected by Slays and other assorted questions.

[Rikter]

I've been messing around with Angband's data files and am wondering if it's possible to change what is affected by specific Slaying brands and rename said brands to their new proper targets. Is this something I can do just from the Data Files or would it need to be changed in the code itself.

Also regarding artifact generation. The base type of an object needs to be able to generate to even have a chance at the artifact right?

[Nick]

I've been messing around with Angband's data files and am wondering if it's possible to change what is affected by specific Slaying brands and rename said brands to their new proper targets. Is this something I can do just from the Data Files or would it need to be changed in the code itself.

This is possible up to a point. You can change which monsters are affected by the existing slays by adding or removing the race flag (defined in the race-flag in slay.txt) for that slay from the monster records in monster.txt (and/or monster_base.txt). Slays can also be defined directly against a monster base - although none currently are - by using a base: line in slay.txt, so you could make your own slay from this.

Also regarding artifact generation. The base type of an object needs to be able to generate to even have a chance at the artifact right?

Yes, for artifacts whose base type is in object.txt. There are also the "special artifacts", like the Phial for example, which need a different generation process because they are the only objects with their base type.