Soul Trapping 101

[FeralBanana]

This is a guide - although not definitive, handy nonetheless - to the arcane art of soul trapping.

Guide:

To trap a soul you need the following:
Empty Soul Gem (Will say 'Soul level - None' if empty)
Spell with effect 'Soul Trap'
Non-NPC Creature (ie, not a humanoid person - vampires etc included)

Odor of Operations:
Stinky. Very Stinky.

Order of Operations:
When a creature is on low life (ie, when it will take you 1-3 more hits to finish it), you need to cast a spell that has an effect that includes 'soul trap'. The most basic one that I have found is a spell that does 'soul trap on target for 20 seconds'. Once you cast this on the critter, it should become/have a purple coloured glow.

As long as you have a large enough soul gem in your inventory (read below to find out about 'large enough'), when you kill this critter (note: as long as it is still 'soul trapped'), it's soul will fill the soul gem in you inventory.

Voila, you have just soul trapped a creature!


Uses of Soul Gems:
There are two uses: Enchanting and recharging.
Recharging: If you have a magical enchanted item in your inventory with a charge (ie, a weapon), then you can use a soul gem in your inventory to recharge the item by the 'points' seen below*.
Enchanting: Becoming a member of the mages guild, and working your way up to becoming an apprentice (ie, finishing all recoommendation quests and having access to the arcane university), means that you can enchant your items. There will be another thread on how to enchant items in the future, but - for now - just understand that you need a filled soul gem.

Infrequently asked Quizzical Questions:
Q: What is 'large enough'
A: Every soul you capture has a 'weight'. This 'weight' determines if the soul gem you have is 'large enough'. What this means is that a better creature has a very 'heavy' soul, and requires a better soul gem.
A practical example is the following:
A rat is pathetic - thus having a 'light' - i.e, lesser - soul, and thus requiring a lesser soul gem.
A Spider daedra is quite good (depeding on level) - thus having a 'heavy' - i.e, large or grand - soul, and thus requiring a grand/large soul gem etc.
If the creature you are trying to soul trap has a heavier soul than you have empty soul gem - i.e, it has a soul rating of 'grand' and you have an empty common soul gem - the message "you do not have a big enough soul gem" (or something to that effect) will occur
Q: What basic soul gem sizes (and thus soul sizes) are there?
A: *From least to most:
Petty (150 points)
Lesser (300 points)
Common (500 points)
Greater (1200 points)
Grand (1600 points)
In addition to this, there are other soul gems that can hold various souls.
Q: What Are the alternate soul gems?
A: There are two alternate soul gems that I have come across: The Azura's Star and Black soul gems.
Azura's Star <Unique>: Given as the reward for the Daedric Azura's Shrine quest. Is the same as a grand soul gem (ie, 1600 etc.), except can be re-used. This means that you can soul trap a critter, recharge or enchant, then soul trap another. Rinse, lather, repeat.
Black soul gem <hard to find?>: I have only found two - during the Cheydinal Mages Guild Reccommendation quests. I have heard that they can be found on necromancers, but have not seen any yet. They can also be made, but I have not seen how. These soul gems are considered 'evil' by the mages guild, as they are property of necromancers and are used to hold the souls of NPC's. This means that if you have an empty black soul gem in your inventory, then you can soul trap a random person in a random town, and get their soul imprisoned within the Black soul gem. Mwahaha.