Oblivion:Souls

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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.

Creature Soul Level
Ancient Ghost Common
Black Bear Common
Boar Lesser
Brown Bear Greater
Clannfear Common
Clannfear Runt Lesser
Daedroth Greater
Deer Petty
Dog Petty
Dread Zombie Greater
Dremora Black
Faded Wraith Common
Flame Atronach Common
Frost Atronach Greater
Ghost Pty/LsrL:-1
Gloom Wraith Grand
Goblin Petty
Goblin Berserker Common
Goblin Shaman leveledL:-5
Goblin Skirmisher Lesser
Goblin Warlord leveledL:+0
Headless Zombie Common
Horse Lesser
Imp Pty/LsrL:-1
Land Dreugh Greater
Lich Grand
Minotaur Common
Minotaur Lord Grand
Mountain Lion Common
Mud Crab Petty
Nether Lich Gtr/GndL:-7
Creature Soul Level
NPC (any race) Black
NPC (essential) none
Ogre Gtr/GndL:-3
Rat Petty
Sanctified Dead/Spectre leveledL:-5*
Scamp Lesser
Sheep Petty
Skeleton Petty
Skeleton Champion Greater
Skeleton Guardian Lesser
Skeleton Hero Common
Slaughterfish Petty
Spider Daedra Greater
Spiderling none
Spriggan Common
Storm Atronach Greater
Stunted Scamp Petty
Timber Wolf Lesser
Tribe Goblin Berserker leveledL:+1
Tribe Goblin Farmer leveledL:-3
Tribe Goblin Guard leveledL:-1
Tribe Goblin Shaman leveledL:+0
Tribe Goblin Skirmisher leveledL:+0
Tribe Goblin War Chief leveledL:+2
Troll Lesser
Vampire Black
Will-o-the-Wisp Common
Wolf Petty
Wraith Greater
Xivilai Grand
Zombie Lesser
Location-specific creatures(respawning)
Creature Soul Level
Dark Guardian leveledL:+0
Everscamp Lesser
Minotaur of the Grove leveledL:+0
Ogre (Pale Pass, Redguard Val.) Common
Troll (Azhklan,Kalperklan) leveledL:+0
Undead Akaviri Soldier leveledL:-1
Quest creatures(non-respawning)
Creature Soul Level
AuroranKOTN Lsr/CmnL:-2
Benirus Manor Ghost leveledL:-1
Deranged Zombie Lsr–GtrL:-1
Painted Troll leveledL:+0
Savage Goblin leveledL:+0
Savage Minotaur leveledL:+0
Savage Ogre leveledL:+1
Savage Troll leveledL:+0
Swamp Troll leveledL:+0
Spectral Sailor leveledL:+1
Uderfrykte Matron Grand
Unicorn Greater

Souls by Strength[edit]

These lists only include creatures with fixed soul strengths.


Soul type Value Creatures
Petty 150 Deer, Dog, Goblin, Mudcrab, Rat, Sheep, Skeleton, Slaughterfish, Stunted Scamp, Wolf
Lesser 300 Boar, Clannfear Runt, Goblin Skirmisher, Horse, Scamp, Skeleton Guardian, Timber Wolf, Troll, Zombie
Common 800 Ancient Ghost, Black Bear, Clannfear, Faded Wraith, Flame Atronach, Goblin Berserker, Headless Zombie, Minotaur, Mountain Lion, Skeleton Hero, Spriggan, Will-o-the-Wisp
Greater 1200 Brown Bear, Daedroth, Dread Zombie, Frost Atronach, Land Dreugh, Skeleton Champion, Spider Daedra, Storm Atronach, Wraith
Grand 1600 Gloom Wraith, Lich, Minotaur Lord, Xivilai
Black 1600 Humanoids (the ten races of Tamriel), Vampires and Dremora are all considered NPCs.

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:

Soul Level Soul Strength
Petty 150
Lesser 300
Common 800
Greater 1200
Grand 1600
Black 1600

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:

Soul level L:-3 L:-2 L:-1 Baseline
L:+0
L:+1 L:+2
Petty 1-4 1-3 1-2 1
Lesser 5-9 4-8 3-7 2-6 1-5 1-4
Common 10-15 9-14 8-13 7-12 6-11 5-10
Greater 16-20 15-19 14-18 13-17 12-16 11-15
Grand 21+ 20+ 19+ 18+ 17+ 16+

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 "<=LesserL:-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 ">=GreaterL:-3"

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