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1. Skyrim Black Soul Gem Vs Grand Soul Gem
2. See Full List On En.uesp.net
3. Filling Black Soul Gem Skyrim

Black are only useful for curing vampirism and capturing NPC souls otherwise they are exactly the same. Fixed I was meaning for the purposed of enchanting filled soul gems. But yeah, black soul gems are easier to fill, but when both have grand souls they are the same other than the cure for vampirism quest. A common soul gem will hold a common sized soul, or a smaller size soul, but not a greater, grand, or black soul. In general, the stronger a creature is, the larger the soul. I would type out a list of soul sizes for creatures, but the last time I did, I wasted an hour and my laptop crashed. Go here if you need more help on black soul gems http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:BlackSoulGem.

Weird Soul Levels[edit]

I was trying to capture souls today, and ran into something wierd. Giants, who were one shotting me, only provided a greater soul, but a mamoth (the one the was with the giant) who did not one shot me, gave me a grand soul. this is very strange to me, has any one else had this happen? I thought for sure giants would be grand souls 205.250.71.148 02:00, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Skyrim Tutorial - How To Fill Grand Soul Gems - Duration: 4:06. Filling a black soul gem in Skyrim (THE EASY WAY) - Duration: 7:06. Couples Therapy Recommended for you.

I found that weird too but it is what it is :) Here are all the soul levels of creatures in Skyrim. 217.121.86.187 13:41, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

Soul Gem Levels[edit]

Alright so on page 86 of the Guide book when disgussing Soul Gems:

• Petty Soul Gem: Can hold creature souls below lvl 4 so I guess a petty soul is lvl 1-4
• Lesser Soul Gem Can hold creature souls below lvl 16 so I'm assuming a Lesser soul is lvl 5-16
• Common Soul gem can hold creature souls below lvl 28 so that might make it 17-28
• Greater Soul Gem can hold up to lvl 38 so lvls between 29 and 38

So therefore Grand souls are any creature with a base lvl of 38-39 and above.

So cross referencing this with the Bestary begining on page 101 excluding humanoids, that leads to the following being grand souls:

• Mammoth
• Elder and Ancient Dragons
• Draugr Deathlord
• Draugr Death Overlord ((the one with ebony weapon not ancient Nord Weapon))
• Dragon Priest
• Falmer Shadowmaster spellsword/warrior((assuming these are creatures and not humanoids))
• Shadowmere ((can only be killed once))

And that's it. Mammoth is probably the easiest though.

Any comments on this? — Unsigned comment by 50.132.36.59 (talk) at 05:20 on 21 November 2011 (UTC)

In other words, just get the Black Star. Note that dragons cannot be soul-trapped (not that it would make any difference, since you absorb their souls yourself). — Unsigned comment by 212.95.56.51 (talk) at 13:51 on 23 November 2011 (UTC)

This looks like very useful info that could go on the page. You can call it tentative, and don't cite the Guide of course - but the first post here on this Discussion page seems to confirm it IMHO. Wow... a Mammoth is about the best way to get a Grand Soul? Really important to know! -RedKnight 08:48, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

And to add to this - the link on this article regarding the Ultimate Creature to Soul Gem Guide is entirely inaccurate. Tested it twice - The guide being linked to says the Draugr Death Overlord has only a Greater Soul (attempting to trap it in anything other than a Grand Soul gem does not work, I tried) and he also lists Hagravens as having Greater Souls which is also not necessarily true since the one I just killed had a decidedly Common Soul.Vainamoinen-Talk-Stuff 21:31, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

Playing on PS3 with unpatched game, something interesting - killing dragons with Axe of Whiterun while holding a Black Soul Gem results in Grand Soul being trapped, while also giving a Dragon Soul to unlock a shout. Have not tried with other Soul Trap methods or weapons. — Unsigned comment by 69.120.129.161 (talk) at 11:26 on 24 February 2013 (GMT)

Black soul gems[edit]

So, what's the point of them now? I mean, are human souls any different from Grand ones if I want to enchant or recharge something? Because really, I can just go to the local mage's place and buy a Grand soul gem, and then kill a mammoth; it will be cheaper.

-Black souls are useful because there is a quest titled 'The Black Star' which rewards you with a reusable black soul gem. So, once one has obtained this, one can kill someone and soul tap them, use the grand soul, and find another. There is no difference between a grand soul from a black soul gem and a grand soul gem in enchanting.

- That, and humans trapped with a black soul gem ALWAYS give grand souls, as oppose to needing an abacus, ruler, and sextant to try to figure out what level soul the monster you are about to kill has. You come across far more humans more regularly too, i.e. need souls? Go raid a bandit camp with a stash of BSG's and a good soultrap weapon

• When you're late in the game and you have a lot of cash, you can buy loads of them, they are quicker to fill than the Grand variety. Simply travel to a bandit camp and fill 10 of them within 5 Mins. It becomes tiresome travelling back and forth to bandit camps when you're enchanting 5 items at once with the Black Star.

I noticed only the Black soul gem doesn't lose its charge if it's dropped. Can we mentioned it under Bug/Note section?

how do you create or obtain them?Froggy™ 04:16, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

i'm pretty sure one can't create them in skyrim. geode veins sometimes contain black soul gems (weird huh?), enthir in winterhold collage sell them, and obviously one might stumble upon them while adventuring--120.165.3.10 16:31, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

You can use the merchant bug to restock Falion in Morthal, nearly always has 1 Black Soul gem to sell — Unsigned comment by The Silencer (talk • contribs) on 3 March 2012

i just had a black soul gem get filled off of a monster. I thopught ONLY Human (etc) souls could be trapped into them. — Unsigned comment by Warrof (talk • contribs) at 00:11 on July 4, 2012

You are able to create a few with the Dawnguard DLC in the Soul Cairn, you placing a greater or grand soul gems in the Lightning Attractor, it will be struck by lightning, and turn it in to a black soul gem as well as summoning enemies. --SPMcKinney 04:23, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

Soul gem Fragments[edit]

I've been collecting all the soul gem fragments i find in hopes that you can somehow make them into new soul gems. Is this at all possible or should i get rid of them?— Unsigned comment by Minernoob90 (talk • contribs) at 19:25 on 4 December 2011 (UTC)

As I see the Soul Gem Fragment still is listed under Unusable Items, I do not think there is any way to use them. (Somebody should have found out if there is by now, more than a month after release of Skyrim.) --MortenOSlash 20:32, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Splitting soul gems?[edit]

I think I just accidentally split one empty petty soul gem into two, and they seem to be regular gems, not fragments. I had my (enchanted, if it matters) bow out while exploring a tomb and came across a petty soul gem on a shelf. I accidentally hit R1 instead of X (I'm on PS3) and so I shot it instead of picking it up. Lo and behold, it split into two and I could pick up both of them. There are no 'fragments' in my inventory, so I think they both just got lumped in with the other empty petty soul gems I was carrying. Can anyone duplicate this? Ninetails 02:50, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

more likely that there were just two soul gems there and you didnt see the other one...Fowl 08:07, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

- I read you can take 6 of them to some guy and he makes them into a black soul gem (I think) for a price, but im still looking and can't find anything on where this guy is. — Unsigned comment by 174.253.155.14 (talk) at 22:07 on 27 December 2011 (UTC)

I have read the same before, whoever came up with the bull was wrong. bearhiderug 08:42, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Soul gem frags[edit]

I am on level 26. I killed a vampire dude, took his notes, and it mentioned and opened a quest to find these certain frags for some kind of devilish powers. a story about 3 sons killed their powerful dad for the gem. they took the gem pieces, tried to rule the world, got their asses kicked, now the 3 frags are buried in tombs with them. hope that helps........somehow — Unsigned comment by Jihad Jenny III (talk • contribs) at 20:07 on 7 December 2011 (UTC)

That hs nothing to do with soul gems its a totally unrelated thing — Unsigned comment by 107.47.124.7 (talk) at 01:01 on 8 December 2011 (UTC)

That's the forbidden legends quest and it's an amulet not soul gem... — Unsigned comment by 98.86.100.134 (talk) at 07:12 on 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Add a link to information about the Soul Gem Fragments?[edit]

When I first discovered a Soul Gem Fragment I found it natural to look up the Soul Gem page to find information about what it is. There were none on this page. The problem is, there is not even a link to the page where the information is found. If there are more of us feeling the same way, we probably should add a link? --MortenOSlash 21:58, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

I second this. It may not be very useful information and most people only need to look it up once, but the point here is to document all relevant information (without over doing it, of course). I'm not going to add a link to the soul gem fragments right now as it seems many others may not feel this way... just adding my 2¢. 108.80.12.18 06:10, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Since the Soul Gem Fragments classify as minor loot and do not class as a soul gem, they aren't featured within the table of Soul Gems found in-game. However, to help anybody who may be looking for more information on them and happen to try to find out about them on the Soul Gem page, I've added a link to the correct page, and short description about them. Helenaannevalentine 06:17, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

I like your solution. Thank you! --MortenOSlash 20:57, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Why Do So Many People Care about Soul Gem Fragments[edit]

They are worthless...Period. — Unsigned comment by 67.71.141.222 (talk) at 17:00 on 22 December 2011 (UTC)

Obvious answer: They seem like they should have a purpose, so people presume they do. The harder it is for them to figure out what they do, the more curious they become. They begin to imagine if it's so hard to do with these obviously useful items, it must be something powerful. The correct answer seems to be that they aren't worthless, but they're worth only the gold one can obtain by selling them, that they have no other purpose. Accretor 01:25, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

I pick them up, my first reason was they MAY have a purpose. My second, they looked neat filling up those randpom basket you happen to pick up at times when you go to grab random alchremy ingrediants. Of course they do not always like to stay in there baskets. bearhiderug 08:44, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

What may end up happening is that they become Skyrim's version of calipers... Random junk that future DLC will quest for. So. Its probably a good idea to meantion them here, despite their (current) uselessness. — Unsigned comment by 96.28.92.39 (talk) at 07:39 on 28 April 2012 (UTC)

Another reason people see them as potentially important is that the broken Azura's Star is visually missing chunks of similar shape and appearance. But I just kept them believing that, at some point, an NPC will demand that I bring them 20. Metagamey, but justified.--Kaay (talk) 08:35, 28 March 2013 (GMT)

players trapped gems vs bought/picked up gems[edit]

does anyone know why my trapped gems are worth 10(petty soul gems) and the soul gem i buy or picked up are worth 40 its the same for all the other gems i have. do i need to lvl up my skills to get better trapped gem value — Unsigned comment by 198.166.37.199 (talk) at 17:30 on 22 December 2011 (UTC)

It says on the main page...

Gems filled yourself and storebought or ones found are different prices. Unlike morrowind where fillen up a grand soul gem makes you filthy rich. bearhiderug 08:45, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Actually grand gems and black gems will change in value after being filled, but other gems will not. So I suppose you can still make some money selling your filled grand gems if that's your thing, though you'll probably have better luck using it to make something then selling that. There is a mod, Acquisitive Soul Gems, that will extend this to all gems, along with fixing the stacking behavior, container glitches, and soul gems losing their charge when dropped (but only if fully filled). Anyway, I have updated the section. -- Bluedanieru 16:51, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Bug: Removing soul gems from container uncharged them[edit]

As far as I can tell, this bug can also be avoided by doing a Take All on the container (Xbox 360). Does anyone object to offering this on the page as a work-around? Accretor 01:28, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

(Another user, guest) Worked for me too (PC version) — Unsigned comment by 89.10.242.39 (talk) at 18:01 on 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Just put another workaround in the bugs section..sorry about the multiple edits, was doing it while experimenting and, well, this is a pretty weird bug. Also, I've found that it can occur when taking soul gems from companion inventories as well. (109.176.220.190 01:16, 9 January 2012 (UTC))

I've been playing around with the whole screwy soul gem issue and here's what I've found. Any soul but Black and sometimes Grand soul gems you fill remain at the same value as an empty one. If you store these they may lose their charge upon storing or upon removal and will not stack properly in the container or in the player inventory. If you only store the higher value soul gems (gems which have a greater value filled than empty) they will stack properly in the container and hold their filled status. 'Take all' will sometimes bring in all lower valued soul gems that retained their filled state when stored but not always. So, despite the weight hit, if you want to use these filled lower valued soul gems, don't store them. They make a real mess of the player inventory since they stack all wrong but it's better than losing the charge if you use them. Black soul gems seem to be immune to this bug and most Grand soul gems are too but all others are affected 100%.

It's best to save the higher valued filled soul gems as you get them and use the lower valued ones for enchanting and recharging. During the enchant and recharge soul gem selection menu there's no way to tell which is which so if you have the higher value storable gem in your inventory you could use it without meaning to. If your like me you'll have more than you can use anyway. Philbert 02:16, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

I have reworked the bug section (for both content and clarity) taking into account Philbert's findings here, my own experiments, and any changes from patch 1.9. Kalevala (talk) 23:41, 18 March 2013 (GMT)

Shade of the Revenant[edit]

Can the shade of the revenant be used to make black soul gems in Skyrim like in Oblivion? Or is the only way to get them by finding them?Starbucksisevil 00:31, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

I believe the only way to get black soul gems is to mine them from blackreach, buy them, find them, or use the atronarch forge. Most likly there will be a way to on a add on. maybe even a addon will have them enmass. bearhiderug 10:51, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Stacking[edit]

I am having immense trouble with my gems NOT stacking. When I drop them all into a container will *rolls eyes* sometimes stack halff of them. People who soul trap everything, it realy adds up. If there is a fix or solution to this I would love to know. Should be put on the notes section too. bearhiderug 08:49, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Could it be that some of them have a different ID? Deer hide has a similar problem with there being two ID's for it. So you'll sometimes get two stacks instead of one. Vainamoinen-Talk-Stuff 21:33, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

Im getting up three four five stacks of the same soul gem, all filled >.< its frusterating bearhiderug 10:45, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

See the section above 'Bug: Removing soul gems from container uncharged them.' This is part of the same problem. On all Greater, Common, Lesser, and Petty soul gems there are two types of soul gems for each 'size.' Those you find/buy already filled and those you find/buy empty. The already filled ones are fine, they stack properly, hold their filled status when stored and have more value. Those that start empty and you fill do not stack properly in your inventory, may lose their filled value on storing or retrieving them from a container, and never change from their base value after being filled. The value difference is how to tell them apart when both types are in your inventory. Store the higher values ones, they will stack properly in a container and hold their filled status. Keep the lower valued ones in your inventory and use them up either recharging or mass enchanting. Also note, when recharging there is no way to tell the value of a Soul Gem, only its size. This is not true with enchanting where you can see the soul gems value too. So, if your going to recharge an item make sure you have stored the higher valued ones somewhere first. Anything will do but be careful of dead bodies, I've had the 'clean up crew' disappear several bodies before I could even loot them. Philbert 04:45, 26 May 2012 (UTC)

Note: Changed the above to add Greater Soul Gems to the glitched list reflecting recent in game experiences. Philbert 02:13, 2 June 2012 (UTC)

Soul Gem fixes for PC players[edit]

Acquisitive Soul Gems by bluedanieru and Smart Souls by shadeMe used together (or apart) is a must have for anyone who collects souls. Acquisitive Soul Gems fixes the gems to be replaced with the filled version when you trap a soul in the correct size gem, this keeps you from seeing all your gems separately in the UI. Smart Souls requires SKSE and it makes sure your souls only go in the correct gem. Cheers 99.117.5.219 05:59, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

• I think one of the latest patches fixed this. At least in my inventory filled gems stack now. They don't seem to stack with gems filled by follower though. 217.121.86.187 14:00, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

They don't stack for me, this is not fixed, and neither is the bug about them losing their charge when taken from containers. This is a bad bug, why is that still there in a 2 year old game? --◄mendel► (talk) 01:24, 7 February 2014 (GMT)

I don't think they can. Here are my thoughts. Bethesda has always had issues with containers (Oblivion graphics when container overloaded, Fallout 3 listing changes as items are removed, and both where removing or adding large quantities can crash the system are examples.) In this case, I think they solved some of the mentioned issues by removing the 'Health' part of weapons and armor but Soul Gems were more problematic. I 'think' their solution was to create 2 world objects - the Soul Gems you find/buy filled which ALWAYS has the largest soul it can hold when found/bought so is a 'static' object and the soul gems you fill that now requires an added property that contains its state (filled or empty), and the size soul it holds. I'm not sure how they handle (program-wise) a pre-filled soul gem that is emptied by dropping it then filled with a lower soul though - haven't tried it so that's an experiment in the making I guess. Since I'm on a PS3, maybe someone with the Creation Kit can delve in and see if there is any dramatic difference at the code level. Philbert (talk) 02:46, 24 March 2014 (GMT)

Leveled?[edit]

I see that plenty of merchants have 'leveled soul gems' listed in their inventory. . .what does this mean? I commonly encounter Grand Soul gems for sale from the beginning of the game, so I'm uncertain in what way they're 'leveled' (unless it could potentially mean that Petty and Lesser gems are not as frequently available at high levels?) Thanks 76.185.41.201 06:02, 27 May 2012 (UTC)

Check out this page. ABCface^◥ 04:13, 28 May 2012 (UTC)

Colors of Soul Gems[edit]

So the way the game describes soul gems, it says that Black soul gems can contain mortal souls, but white can't. Since White ones can pick up animal souls, this implies that animals aren't mortal. Which doesn't seem right, of course. Can someone explain this? — Unsigned comment by 71.68.112.39 (talk) at 02:46 on 22 June 2012 (UTC)

'Mortal souls' are NPC souls--not all NPCs are men (as some are mer, etc.), and 'mortal' typically refers to a person. Vely 21:06, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

I knew that man,mer,etc., are mortal, but I always thought mortal means able to die by age. I know there are other parts, but that was always how I thought it was mainly classified. So animals should be mortal, in my opinion. — Unsigned comment by 71.68.112.39 (talk) at 17:35 on June 22, 2012

Animals are mortal, yes, but in general fantasy, a person who is not a god or anything is referred to as a mortal, despite everything else being mortal too. Black soul gems can be used to capture regular animal souls as well, though they are intended more for NPC souls. Vely 21:49, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

Reaper Gem Fragments[edit]

While walking around the Soul Cairn, I found an odd gem fragment called a 'Reaper Gem Fragment'. I have found two of them, both inside chests guarded by the giant, floating, soul gem (and in separate locations). Any ideas as to what these are for? — Unsigned comment by 76.219.117.185 (talk) at 05:16 on 17 July 2012

they are used to summon the reaper a type of boss thing in a building on the side of the soul cairn where the keeper with the dragon bone bow is located or near there anyway its like the only building with a door is not too hard to find i think its near the wrathman summoning spell book and near the undead horses skull and another keeper who uses a two handed dragon bone weapon — Unsigned comment by 86.13.2.17 (talk) at 16:49 on 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Respawning Black Soul Gems[edit]

Valerica's study, room of several rare alchemy ingredients and even some dragon bones has 2 black soul gems that respawn after a few days, probably the same amount of time as a merchant's gold respawns. Also regarding the lighting attractor making black soul gems in Soul Cairn, is that what the new dwarven structures do too? I've seen several new dwarven alter things that were added with the dawnguard plugin.--50.135.172.120 19:31, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Skyrim Black Soul Gem Vs Grand Soul Gem

Rename[edit]

Well, Skyrim:Gems is plural, and so are others such as Skyrim:Artifacts, Skyrim:Ores and Ingots, Skyrim:Tools, and the list goes on. And not to mention the recently moved Skyrim:Dragon Mounds for the same reason. Well, I won't move the page now straight away; I'll ask for consensus first, just in case :P. I'll give this around a week (probably less, if consensus is reached earlier), then if no one objects, I'll proceed with moving the article and its talk page and make the necessary link changes to other pages that link here. ~ Psylocke 06:09, 28 November 2012 (GMT)

Agree. — ABCface^◥ 06:15, 28 November 2012 (GMT)

Well, turned out Dragonborn kept me busy. Since this was here for well over a week, and per UESPWiki:Consensus, I'll go ahead and make the necessary changes. ~ Psylocke 05:51, 10 December 2012 (GMT)

Okay.. I changed most of the links already. What is left are mostly links on talk pages and userspaces. I don't really feel comfortable changing others' userspaces or posts; can a patroller finish the job? I usually see patrollers/admins doing courtesy edits. Also, there are links on lore pages as well. I have no idea how those Lore Links templates work, so.. please update the remaining links. After that, go ahead and prod the 'Skyrim:Soul Gem' redirect. Thanks! ~ Psylocke 07:05, 10 December 2012 (GMT)

Well...looks like we ought to move OB:Soul Gem as well. When I fix the links on Lore:Purloined Shadows and Lore:Souls, Black and White, it'll produce red links on the Oblivion versions of those pages. Up for another rename? ;) ⇠eshe^talk 18:17, 11 December 2012 (GMT)

(Okay, correction, it didn't make red links on the OB pages, but it did erase the links since the page doesn't exist in that namespace ⇠eshe^talk 18:20, 11 December 2012 (GMT))

Ebony soul gems?????[edit]

I've been playing Skyrim on my PS3 for about a year now and loving this site. I recently got my brothers to play and they claim to have found an ebony soul gem. Not black, ebony. I keep telling them I've never encountered this myself, but they are pretty adamant about having found one. I can't find anything on it anywhere and was wondering if anyone else has seen one. — Unsigned comment by 54.235.17.180 (talk) at 03:48 on 10 July 2013‎

Nope, there's no such item in Skyrim, including the latest DLC. ~HellRiderツ^talk✉^mail 03:05, 10 July 2013 (GMT)

Black Soul Gems in game easy to get[edit]

Turns out there is an easy way to get multiple black soul gems. I found it out by accident, when I shot the vendor I just bought a black soul gem from (Enthir in Winterhold College). I panicked when I hit him and reloaded the last save, which was right after I bought the gem (and a bunch of other items). I was going to move forward past him and hit him with my weapon instead. Turns out, every time you buy something from someone, and you save, then hit the vendor (it seems to be everywhere in game), then reload the last save, you get a fresh inventory for purchase when talking to them again right away. I became bored after buying 20+ black gems from him this way (I traded items back and forth to 0 out his gold supply). So, now I just need to go out in the world to fill them. I expect they may fix this in a future patch, but right now, it is definitely functional. He bought all my soul gem fragments for 2gp each..meh. — Unsigned comment by 71.229.238.170 (talk) at 01:08 on 16 December 2013

This is a well-known, long-standing exploit. All merchants will restock if you go through those steps. --74.102.139.71 02:21, 16 December 2013 (GMT)

Untrappable Souls[edit]

In a reverse of the problem most people seem to be having, with soul gems emptying themselves when they shouldn't, I just had a problem with soul gems not filling. I had the Black Star and a black soul gem, both empty, and when I killed a skeleton, then later a Draugr deathlord in Kolbjorn Barrow, they refused to fill (with the usual message about not having a soul gem large enough). A tentative fix seems to have been to drop them and pick them back up again, but I've only encountered a couple of things since then, so that could also be a fluke. I can't recall this ever having happened before, so it may be a one-off, but if anyone else has experienced anything like this, please reply so we can put it on the page. – Robin Hood^(talk) 04:02, 10 March 2014 (GMT)

Never mind. This behaviour is introduced by the USKP 2.0.1. Not only the Black Star, but all black soul gems have been altered to accept only NPC souls and no others. – Robin Hood^(talk) 07:28, 10 March 2014 (GMT)

As there's some outdated talk around the web about this, I suppose I might as well clarify matters here for posterity - v2.0.1 (2014-02-08) prevents white souls from being trapped in black gems. v3.0.7 (2016-10-29) reverts this change (bringing them back into line with Oblivion), but still prevents them from being captured in the Black Star (as in-game dialogue specifically indicates that it shouldn't be able to contain them). - Bomb Bloke (talk) 15:13, 10 May 2017 (UTC)

Bugs Cleanup[edit]

• Self filled soul gems from Greater down to Petty if transferred less than 6 at a time, can lose their souls when put into a container, such as a bedside table, and then are taken out of the container and returned to your inventory. Only the last gem in a stack smaller than 6 can be transferred safely.
  • It is recommended that you save your game before you move any self filled soul gems to or from your inventory and a container or follower.
  • If you have a long list of singleton self filled soul gems of the same type in your inventory, and you want to stack them without losing the souls; simply give the filled ones to your follower, and then take them back.
  • You can use the TAKE ALL command to take all of the soul gems from a container. This technique frequently prevents the soul loss but should be attempted only after saving the game. This method has the short coming of taking everything in the container and, of course, it does not apply to followers.
  • Until this bug is addressed, it is best to store only soul gems that are not self filled. Once these are stored the remaining self filled gems can be used for recharging weapons and mass enchanting.

I think this unproven but I can't follow it fully. In any case its been sitting a long time unconfirmed. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 21:16, 12 April 2014 (GMT)

See my comment under 'Bug: Removing soul gems from container uncharged them' . I did extensive testing and found that any form of transfer of the 'filled yourself' Petty thru Greater Soul Gems has a high risk of loss of the soul. I tried it with one at a time and with many at a time (up to 100 of each). In each case the results were extremely random. Sometimes I could store then retrieve them all without loss, most times there was at least a 50% loss, some times there were a 90% loss. At no time was there a 100% loss in one direction (Storing) but could become 100% on the other direction of the transfer (Retrieving) . The type of removal did not matter i.e. taking one at a time or using 'Take All'. I also used many types of containers (safe & unsafe - owned & unowned) and Companions. PS3 - Latest Patch Philbert (talk) 23:14, 1 August 2014 (GMT)

What is the significance of Soul Size numbers?[edit]

After making a mod that allows one to modify the contents of a soul gem, I learned that ingame the soul size is stored as 1 for petty, 2 for lesser, etc. So what is the significance of the numbers listed here? Are they simply made up to represent the different types of souls? If so, why not replace them with the numbers used in the game code? Spark01 (talk)

It relates to the number of charges you will get when using them to create or charge weapons. You can see the specific values in the Creation Kit by going to the Gameplay menu, then Settings, then filter for iSoulLevel. – Robin Hood^(talk) 02:35, 28 March 2015 (GMT)

Every soul in Oblivion is one of six possible strengths: Petty, Lesser, Common, Greater, Grand, and Black. More powerful creatures have more powerful souls. Souls are trapped in soul gems by using a soul trap spell. Trapped souls are used to enchant and recharge items.

Souls Alphabetically[edit]

This table provides soul strengths for most of the standard creatures in Oblivion. Unique creatures (like the lich Lorgren Benirus) generally have leveled souls that are not in this table. See individual creature pages for full details on their souls.

Souls with a superscript (e.g., ^L:-1) are leveled; see the later section for details. In a few cases (Ogres, Sanctified Spectre) there are several different versions of the creature sharing the same name but having different souls; see those creatures' pages for details.

Souls by Strength[edit]

These lists only include creatures with fixed soul strengths.

NPC souls, as listed above, can only be trapped in black soul gems. This practice is considered akin to necromancy in the Mages Guild questline, and can also be ethically questionable in the roleplaying sense.

Black-soul trapping, however, is one of the only ways to acquire Grand-soul values for enchanting before level 20.

Soul Strengths[edit]

There are six possible soul strengths:

See Full List On En.uesp.net

A creature's soul strength is determined in one of two ways.

1. Most standard creatures have fixed souls. For example, every Flame Atronach will have a common soul, regardless of location or player character's level.
2. Most unique creatures and some other creatures have a soul strength based upon the player character's level--either the PC's level or an offset of the PC's level.

Offsets as low as -10 and as high as +10 exist, but the table below illustrates some common offsets:

Examples:

• When the PC is level 4, a Bloody Hand Rat Farmer (offset L:-3) will have a petty soul and all other Bloody Hand goblins (offsets L:-1 to L:+2) will have lesser souls.
• When the PC is level 5, a Bloody Hand Goblin War Chief (offset L:+2) will have a common soul and all other Bloody Hand goblins (offsets L:-3 to L:+1) will have lesser souls.

An additional complication is that some creatures have a minimum or maximum level that also caps their soul.

For Instance:

• Ghosts have a maximum level of 4--their souls will be at most lesser strength. With an offset of L:-1, ghosts will have petty souls until PC level 3 and lesser souls at PC level 4 and above. This is summarized in the chart by '<=Lesser^L:-1'.
• Ogres have a minimum level of 16--their souls will be at least greater strength. With an offset of L:-3, ogres will have a greater soul until PC level 21 when their souls will be grand. This is summarized in the chart by '>=Greater^L:-3'

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Creatures with no maximum or minimum soul level (any soul strength is possible) are stated with 'leveled' followed by a superscript providing the offset.