Capture a Soul in Oblivion

Everybody has a soul in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and quite often they can come in handy. They recharge all sorts of magical weapons, staves and items, but capturing them is difficult. There's the gems you need to acquire, the creature you need to slay and the short time you have to do it in. So here's a guide on how to trap a soul in Oblivion.

Steps

  1. Purchase a Soul Trap spell or scroll from any Mage's Guild hall across Cyrodiil or from another trader dealing in Soul Trap spells - you cannot capture a soul without one. You will need to have a Mysticism skill of at least 25 to use the most basic Soul Trap spell, although you can be of any level to use Soul Trap scrolls or a weapon with a Soul Trap enchantment on it. The longer the duration of the Soul Trap spell, the better, as you will have a longer time to capture the soul. As an alternative, the sword Umbra (part of the Clavicus Vile Daedric Quest), has a soul trap effect on strike, as do several other magical weapons.
  2. Acquire a soul gem - the types of soul gem are petty, lesser, common, greater, grand and black. Although any soul gem can be used to capture a soul, the larger the soul, the larger the soul gem needed. For example, a mud crab with a soul level of 'petty' can fit in any size of soul gem, but a Minotaur Lord's 'grand' soul level can only be trapped in a grand or black soul gem. Black soul gems are technically like grand soul gems, but can capture NPC souls as well - they can be created using methods discovered during the Necromancer's Moon Mages Guild quest. Soul gems can be bought from most mages stores, in random loot and from Mages Guild halls and range in price depending on their level. In addition, you can obtain Azura's Star, a re-usable Grand soul gem artifact, by completing the Azura daedric quest.
  3. Locate a creature who's soul you want to capture, or if you have a Black soul gem, an NPC (such as an Arena combatant or bandit). The easier the creature is to kill, the smaller its soul level will likely be and the smaller the soul gem you'll need. Creatures such as deer, goblins, mud crabs and rats are easy to practice using Soul Trap spells on. When you become better acquainted with capturing souls, consider tackling larger targets such as Daedroth, Lich and Gloom Wraiths, which have high-leveled souls. If you want to capture an NPC's soul, do so where no one can see you, as casting a soul trap on someone will incur a bounty if spotted.
  4. Cast your Soul Trap spell on the intended target, or hit them with your Soul Trap-enchanted weapon, and kill them with a soul gem in your inventory before the duration of the spell runs out. If you kill them before time runs out, then the creature's soul will fill the most suitable soul gem in your inventory - for example, if you kill a mud crab with its petty soul, it will fill a petty soul gem if you have one. However, if you only have a Grand soul gem, it will fill that with its petty soul. However, if you fail to kill your target before the spell runs out, you will either need to cast the spell again or miss out on the chance of capturing the soul. For this reason, it is advisable to not cast the Soul Trap spell until the target is just about dead, in order to give yourself the maximum amount of time to capture it, or use a long-duration Soul Trap spell.
  5. Look in your inventory at your soul gems and you'll see a filled soul gem and captured a soul. Congratulations! Now you can use the filled soul gem to recharge your magic items and enchant weapons and armour. However, once you use them, they are gone forever, unless you are using the re-usable Azura's Star. Of course, the larger the soul level, the more re-charge they will provide. If you failed to capture the soul due to there not being a soul gem large enough to capture it, then a message will appear at the top left hand corner of the screen telling you so.



Tips

  • If you obtain the sword umbra (which does soul trap) and Azuras star you can create an endless soul trapping system.
  • All soul gems, except Black and Petty, look alike, so be aware of which ones you have in your inventory when looking to capture a large soul.
  • Soul Trap spells which affect an entire area are very useful, especially if you are carrying numerous empty soul gems. Killing all the creatures within the area before the spell runs out will result in a hefty amount of your soul gems being filled.
  • An easy way of filling soul gems is to summon your own creature, such as a demon, skeleton or zombie, and capture their soul. This will save time and energy, but it may take a while for your magicka to recover due to the large cost of summoning a high-level creature and then casting a soul trap spell on it.
  • The soul levels of some creatures increase as you increase your overall level, so be sure to take note.

Warnings

  • Some creatures, such as Dremora, count as NPCs and as such, will require a black soul gem in order to capture their soul.
  • During the Cheydinhal Recommendation quest, you will find some Black Soul gems pertaining to the quest. Although they can be used just like normal Grand soul gems, DO NOT use them as they will disappear just like normal soul gems also, meaning you will never be able to finish the quest or gain access to the Arcane University.

Things You'll Need

  • Soul Trap spell, scroll, Sigil stone or enchantment.
  • Empty soul gem, black soul gem or Azura's Star.
  • A creature or NPC who's soul you can capture.

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Sources and Citations

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