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Oblivion talk:Black Soul Gem/Archive 1

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This is an archive of past Oblivion talk:Black Soul Gem discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page, except for maintenance such as updating links.

Overlap with Enchanting Page

This information is all repeated at Oblivion:Enchanting#Black Soul Gems. It seems like only one or the other is needed. My first inclination is to keep this page, and change the section of the Enchanting page to a minimal description and a link to here. The Black Soul Gem discussion does contain some spoilers, that some readers might not want to accidentally learn while browsing the Enchanting page.--Nephele 19:08, 7 July 2006 (EDT)

Well I do think we need a page for Black Sould Gems, so I've added some more info here about their usefulness at ealier levels for enchanting. I think this page can be more detailed about the process of creating them, what they are useful for and other details such as removing the stolen flag and turning a grand soul gem with a lesser sould into a black soul gem.
Oops, that's a somewhat out-of-date and obsolete note. The following day (July 8th) I went ahead and followed through on my suggestion to move the large chunk of information that had been on the Enchanting page over to the Black Soul Gems page. So the Black Soul Gems page is now the primary source for all information about them. But definitely add any more details you think are needed! --Nephele 21:44, 13 February 2007 (EST)

getting black soul gems out of nowhere

Ever since i completed the end of the Mages Guild questline i have been getting random black soul gems in my inventory when trying to capture grand souls from various creatures. All of my weapons are enchanted and contain soul trap so i use azuras star to keep them filled. What happens is whenever i trap someones (non NPC included) soul it usually doesnt fill Azuras star but makes a black soul gem instead. It is a very useful glitch but it is more practical for me to use the star because u can keep it hotkeyed. I carry the staff of worms and the colossal filled black soul gem with me, could any of those have something to do with it?

I have never noticed that particular glitch, even when carrying the Staff of Worms, it's probably not the Colossal Black Soul Gem as it's a quest item that you cannot remove once you've finished the Mages Guild quests. What platform are you playing on and do you have any mods installed? Grandmaster z0b 22:06, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

seems to be a glitch because ever since I obtained Umbra, slaying NPC will generate filled black soul gems and they keep piling up. It doesn't seem to captyure every time - I inintially thought it was somehow turning grands into blacks even if they already had a trapped soul - but I hadn't used a recharge for awhile and lo and behold a pile of separated black soul gems...I've installed nothing that's too out of the ordinary, unofficial patch, btmod, natural environments, lighting, cities alive.. *shrug* --MacFodder 22:10, 19 March 2007 (EDT)
It may have something to do with one of the mods, or different mods conflicting, or maybe it's just be a glitch. It seems like the black soul gems are spawning rather than giving you the "there are no soul gems big enough in your inventory for the soul..." message. Try unequiping Umbra, The Staff of Worms and Azura's star and see if it still happens. Grandmaster z0b 02:20, 20 March 2007 (EDT)
it doesn't bother me greatly luckily, i leave umbra uncharged to avoid it since it's pretty much an exploit plus i keep my FPS up without the soultrap animations. i prefer using an uncharged glass mace as my typical weapon of choice - i haven't levelled high enough for glass items to appear a lot and i fought hard to get this off a necro (was surprised it even turned up! glad she never drew it on me..) so it's "my little friend" :) --MacFodder 20:42, 22 March 2007 (EDT)
Any chance this is related to "Fixed infinite soul gems exploit by dropping and picking up stacked soul gems," which is listed as one of the bugs fixed by the latest patch? --Nephele 00:28, 26 March 2007 (EDT)
I doubt it as I thought that had to do with something like this; if you have 3 unfilled black soul gems they will be listed as one icon with the number 3 next to it, as you fill them they stay on their own line in you inventory even though they're all full and identical. If you then put them into a chest or something they then end up as the same icon again but with the number next to it. Now if you drop them one at a time I think it drops bundles of 3 rather than one.. or something like that. Grandmaster z0b 01:55, 26 March 2007 (EDT)
Actually I totally take that back, I have no idea what causes this bug but it has now happened to me, and seems random, sometimes I'll get a new black soul gem every time I kill a human, other times it goes back to normal. I may have even got a free Grand Soul Gem from this but I cannot be sure. I did actually have a stack of filled Black Soul Gems in my inventory that I had filled, put in a chest, then picked them up again. I'm not using Umbra but have Soul Trap on the custom weapon I'm using and have Azura's Star. Grandmaster z0b 21:02, 10 April 2007 (EDT)
I was just using Wendelbek to procure a collection of Black Soul Gems, but I think I may have found a way to get a large number of them. I noticed that if I put a number of Grand Soul Gems in the altar at once and cast Soul Trap one time, when I checked the altar for the gem count, I would have 1 black gem and the same number of grand gems. Upon testing, I could do this up to x-1 times, (x being the number of grand gems) and still retrieve my full original stack of grand soul gems. If I cast Soul Trap x number of times without removing my grand gems, they would be gone. For example, I put 4 grands in there and cast 3 times. I would have 3 black gems and 4 grand gems, at this point I could still take all 4 grands AND all 3 black gems. I could then exit the altar and enter it again to place the 4 grands back in there and cast Soul Trap 3 more times for the same results 4 grands and 3 black gems! I thought I'd share in case somebody else might want to really take advantage of the Shade of the Revenant71.168.2.196 18:37, 8 September 2007 (EDT)DVSDavis
I went back to the altar to transform two grand soul gems that had been filled with petty souls. I put my two gems in the altar and waited for the correct day... cast soul trap twice and opened the altar to find two black gems and the original two grand soul gems. I removed the black gems and cast soul trap twice more, to get two more black gems and the two grand gems were still in there...? this is a great glitch...71.161.63.15 16:54, 9 September 2007 (EDT)DVSDavis

Evidence of Necromancy

Carrying Black Soul Gems is not evidence of Necromancy, and has no negative consequences. It's not like wearing Necromancer's robes or anything. Therefore I deleted this totally erroneous paragraph: "Having Black Soul Gems in your possession will be considered evidence that you practice Necromancy. Although Necromancy is not illegal in Cyrodiil, the Mages Guild has banned Necromancy from the guild. Therefore, carrying Black Soul Gems may have negative consequences." This is not the first time I've seen this exact statement on the UESP and had to delete it. Grandmaster z0b 19:55, 28 March 2007 (EDT)

Notes: Greater soul in grand soul gem

I just used a grand soul gem with a captured greater soul (from the unicorn) to make a black soul gem. Seems the Notes section needs updating to reflect that you can use stones filled with souls other than petty and lesser. --— Unsigned comment by 203.51.37.44 (talk)

I clarified it. Theoretically, any Grand Soul Gem you fill yourself (with any soul, Petty to Grand) will work, as they all have the same FormID. Pre-filled Soul Gems have different FormIDs, which is why they won't work. However, it is in any case simply a waste of a perfectly good soul to do this. It's just less wasteful to use empty Soul Gems. --TheRealLurlock Talk 11:07, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

Shade of the Revenant - dates...

Could some one confirm that the "Shade of the Revenant" occurs once a week... e.g. once every 7 days - not 8.

The Shade of the Revenant actually occurs every eight days (on the 1st, 9th, 17th, 25th, 33rd, etc. days of the game, using the "Days Passed" statistic on your character's statistics journal page).

should read on the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, 36th, etc. days of the game

I only ask as I've just turned up to make my first Black Soul gem on day 233 and had to wait 6 days until the light shone... — Unsigned comment by 83.67.51.7 (talk) on 4 June 2007

After this was first reported here, I tested it multiple times with a few different characters (some starting from day 1, others who were already far into the game), and it was always every 8 days, not every 7 days. And the fact that previously people were reporting seeing the shade of the revenant on multiple possible days of the week also says that if there's any regular pattern, it definitely is not every 7 days. --NepheleTalk 21:52, 4 June 2007 (EDT)
I Agree i had to wait many-a-days after the "presumed" dates — Unsigned comment by 71.1.239.74 (talk) on 13 August 2007
I've never had any problems with the Shade. Occurs every eight days, right on time, for me. -- Darkle 14:24, 13 October 2007 (EDT)
The Shade in fact occurs every 8 days. To see if the day in question will have a shade, just use this "formula": (number in passed days - 1)/7. You get a round number, you get a shade. So to one of the comments above, if you're on day 233 you have to wait 6 days because 239 is a shade day(239-1=238, 238/7=34, a round number), as is 231. — Unsigned comment by 201.78.245.170 (talk) on 5 December 2007

I was just wondering because, like some of you, i turned up at day 201 and it didn't come. And on the page it has a formula [days pass-1]/8. But in the comment above it says [days pass-1]/7. I was wondering which one is correct because I cant afford waiting (im a vampire) and I need a accurate date.Georgeguy 19:23, 1 May 2009 (EDT)

It's every eight days. We make a point of keeping the articles accurate, but we don't go through and fix people's talk page comments. So when there's a difference between the article and the talk page, it's safe to assume the article is correct. Especially when the person who posted the 1/7 formula isn't even consistent about 7 or 8 days.
Furthermore, the information about every eight days is not just based upon checking with one or two characters (or even a dozen characters, given how many different people have checked this). I've also confirmed it by checking the in-game scripts (for my own future reference, script "NecroAnchoriteQuestScript", which sets the variable "halo"). Although the script is a bit tricky, suggesting perhaps that the developers intended to have the revenant occur every 7 days, the actual coding results in the revenant happening once every eight days.
Only two readers in two years reporting a problem suggests to me that there is not a general problem with the equation -- especially given far more readers reporting during the same period that the equation is correct. If there is some type of discrepancy, it seems more likely to be a relatively uncommon glitch. Furthermore, I'd guess that even if your game has glitched, the revenant still occurs once every eight days -- it's just that the start date has been shifted for some unknown reason. Unfortunately, that would imply that it's not possible to say when the revenant will occur in your game. --NepheleTalk 22:08, 1 May 2009 (EDT)
Thanks for the reply ↑ i tried both equations anyway and neither of them worked, just another glitch i suppose.Georgeguy19:26, 6 May 2009 (EDT)

It actually happens on 2nd, 10th, 18th and so on. I am on the altar, it's a Shade of the Revenant day and my character sheet reads "9 days passed" which means i am on the 10th day. 80.240.22.52 23:36, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Are black soul gems any better than grand soul gems?

Or is there no point in useing them if you can fill the grand ones easily? Are the enchantments stronger?

Black soul gems are the only soul gems able to capture souls of NPC's, the enchantments are worth the same as a grand soul gem with a grand soul Acheeze 02:00, 8 July 2007 (EDT)
More information here. --RpehTalk 14:17, 8 July 2007 (EDT)

Different Dates?

Do the dates when the purple light comes down at the altar in Dark Fissure change at random? I was playing on the Xbox 360 version and the light appeared on the 11th at 12 a.m. Wasn't it the 1st, 9th, 17th, and so forth?

What do you mean by the "11th"? The numbers provided are not the days of the month. They are the days relative to the start of the game. As stated in the article, you need to look at the "Days Passed" statistic. --NepheleTalk 01:33, 10 January 2008 (EST)

Finding Black Soul Gems

(Moved here from Oblivion talk:Vaermina)

Where is a good place to find a BSG? I'm a warrior with not enough mysticism to cast a soul trap spell and am finding it tedious traveling to all the Necromancer hideouts searching for boss chests with random loot. — Unsigned comment by 71.52.5.171 (talk)

If you do not intend to join the Mages Guild, or at least don't think missing out on the Arcane University is a bad thing for your character, then you may want to pickpocket Falcars Key to obtain his Black Soul Gems in the Mages Guild branch in Cheydinhal (I would appreciate it if someone corrected me if I am wrong). - Korunox 20:34, 24 February 2008 (EST)
Falcar's soul gems are named Black Soul Gems, but they actually function as normal grand soul gems not black soul gems (see Cheydinhal Recommendation). So stealing them and risking ruining the Mages Guild quest line isn't really worth the effort. --NepheleTalk 21:14, 24 February 2008 (EST)
If I'm not mistaken, you can use a soul trap scroll even if you don't have enough Mysticism for anything else, so it might be best to start hunting around for something like that. I don't believe there are any guaranteed BSGs in the game other than Falcar's (which, as previously mentioned, won't work), and I believe one in the altar after you do the Necromancer's Moon quest which, being a Mage's Guild quest, is probably not high on your list of things to do :) --Robin Hood 21:28, 24 February 2008 (EST).
Alternatively, find someone who sells a low-level Mysticism spell like Minor Life Detection and start casting a lot of those to raise your Mysticism. At the lower levels, it goes up pretty quickly. --Robin Hood 21:32, 24 February 2008 (EST)
Also, searching boss chests for loot will not work, because necromancer boss chests do not contain Black Soul Gems. Only necromancer bosses, not their chests, have a chance of containing a Black Soul Gem. The article has been updated to hopefully make that point more clear. --NepheleTalk 21:34, 24 February 2008 (EST)
It also depends what you need a Black Soul Gem for. For enchanting objects, black souls are no more effective than grand souls, which are much easier to come by. For Vaermina's quest and for Necromancer's Moon, of course you need a genuine Black Soul Gem, but those are about the only time you do. (Also, the information about Soul Trap scrolls and Mysticism skill is not relevant to this discussion, because the original poster was looking for a soul gem, not an actual soul. You can use an empty one for the quest.) --TheRealLurlock Talk 22:06, 24 February 2008 (EST)
Ummm, except that you need a soul trap spell to create a Black Soul Gem at a necromancer altar. So how to get a soul trap spell is somewhat relevant ;) --NepheleTalk 22:12, 24 February 2008 (EST)

is the any place where a BSG is like in a display case other than in the mages guild quest, because i've completed it and now i can't find any, if the arent do you know of anywhere i can get a soul trap scroll? 90.204.75.110 09:48, 24 March 2008 (EDT)James F90.204.75.110 09:48, 24 March 2008 (EDT)

All that is answered on the page. I don't think I understand you though... Why is a soul trap scroll a substitute for a Black Soul Gem? –RpehTCE 10:00, 24 March 2008 (EDT)
so you can make one at the necromancer alters, i don't want to sound stupid but i cant find the info on this page about where to buy a scroll90.204.75.110 10:11, 24 March 2008 (EDT)James F90.204.75.110 10:11, 24 March 2008 (EDT)
Ah I see. Well there's a link here, which tells you more and also links to locations for scrolls and spells. You're better off learning the Soul Trap spell yourself or you'll end up spending hundreds on scrolls. –RpehTCE 10:50, 24 March 2008 (EDT)
Also, there's only a single guaranteed Soul Trap scroll (found north of Fort Nikel). Any other Soul Trap scrolls you find are randomly generated, including any scrolls you purchase from merchants. So it's hard to provide a page telling readers where to buy a scroll, because there are no guaranteed locations. --NepheleTalk 12:40, 24 March 2008 (EDT)

Umbra Sword

Would the sword 'umbra' count if you hit the alter with the grand gem inside? Caboose 14:54, 17 March 2008 (EDT)

The altars do not react to handheld weapons, only spells and arrows. Volanaro 14:56, 17 March 2008 (EDT)

Excuse me for entering in here but i have been searching for something like this. Does The Arrow or the bow need to have soul trap for this to work. please respond soon. Oblivionite 22:45, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

Application

I've made a small app for calculating when the next Shade occurs, doesnt look very pretty but is quite useful. I'll put it on rapidshare for the time being, but if someone would put it on a more permenant file host, we could put it in the article for the use of anyone who cared to use it.

http://rapidshare.com/files/116068024/SoRCalc.exe.html NIL 12:17, 19 May 2008 (EDT)

I would suggest posting it to The Elder Scrolls Nexus. --Robin Hood (TalkE-mailContribs) 14:03, 22 May 2008 (EDT)

Hearthfire?

I thought it was Heartfire. — Unsigned comment by 122.109.32.113 (talk)

Nope. Definitely Hearthfire. It's sometimes spelled as two words. See this. –RpehTCE 00:55, 9 June 2008 (EDT)
no... my game says it's Heartfire too, not Hearthfire. — Unsigned comment by 63.249.109.183 (talk) on 21 December 2008
The name of the month is set by the GMST variable sMonthHeartFire. In the US edition, that variable is set to "Heartfire" (true with or without SI; with or without patches installed). It's possible that the UK edition changed the month's name; nevertheless, based on our spelling guidelines, the article should use the US spelling. --NepheleTalk 13:53, 1 January 2009 (EST)

Black Soul Gem Grand Unable To Enchant With

I have been to multiple enchanting ultars one in travens office and one at the arcane chorinasium(sp?) Ithink thats the place anyway, i have 3 with greater and 1 with grand and the grand isn't even showing up in the item list for gems to enchant with. I am trying to enchant a dremora mace any ideas what is going on here?

Could be a quest item, but the most probable answer is a bug. i would just get a grand or black soul gem and capture another soul.Georgeguy 19:28, 1 May 2009 (EDT)

Black Soul Gem for Enchanting

Does a Black Soul Gem enchant higher than a Grand Soul Gem? I've trapped many human NPC and the soul level is always grand, isn't there a black level soul?

75.108.133.63 00:11, 6 October 2008 (EDT)gold

No, a BSG also holds a Grand soul - the only difference is you can harvest them from NPCs. –RpehTCE 01:06, 6 October 2008 (EDT)

Reorganise page?

A minor point, but would it not make sense to put the "Shade of the Revenant" section first, i.e. to set up the background and history, and explain when the ritual can be performed, and then put the Procedure section next, to go into the detail as to what is required?

I read the first section and then came on to the Shade of the Revenant section, expecting something different (such as another way to create a BSG), but then noticed that it was effectively repeating aspects of the first section, talking about the purple light shining down on the altar etc.--90.215.29.168 18:30, 8 January 2009 (EST)

Item ID

Why isn't that info on this page?

+1 DynV 18:23, 27 February 2009 (EST)

Try this. That info should probably be on this page somewhere, though... --GuildKnightTalk2me 04:29, 28 February 2009 (EST)

New picture?

The picture of the black soul gem is a good one, but having it against such a bright background could make almost any soul gem seem dark. Just a thought to maybe show a picture of a black soul gem next to a grand one, just to be sure that the reader sees the difference. And maybe in a more brightly-lit area, without so much contrast. But that's just me being picky. Chunk of Ham 03:51, 22 March 2009 (EDT)

not working?

Does the soul trap effect need to be on target to work? I've been using an "On Touch" effect wondering whats going on, any ideas? please help. Also I think i'm doing it on the right date, does it happen when my thing says "Days Passed: 161" if not, can someone direct me to when the next one will happen?

With some people (like me) the shade of revelant(sp?) comes at different days. This hasn't been confirmed but I am too waiting on an eighth day and nothing happens. Try this formula {(days passed-1)/7}(if its a whole number the shades on that day) and tell me is it works.

and no it doesn't have to be a target spellGeorgeguy 19:34, 1 May 2009 (EDT)

Create Infinite Black Soul Gems

(Following moved here from Oblivion:Glitches/Proposed)

First make sure that you are familiar with the normal process of creating black soul gems from grand soul gems. See [1].

Put a stack of grand soul gems into the shrine. Do a Soul trap spell (your choice) on the shrine exactly one less time than there are grand soul gems in the stack. Then pull out the new black soul gems PLUS your original grand soul gems. Important that you remove all your original grand soul gems otherwise the next soul trap spell will give you one additional black soul gem and erase your original stack of grand soul gems as would normally be expected. Repeat as often as you want until the day is over. It is ok to use the same stack of grand soul gems over and over just so long as you remove them and then reinsert them. Also, it is ok to use fewer than the maximum number of soul trap spells but the above explanation is optimal.

For Example, if you put in a stack of 10 grand soul gems. Then cast the soul trap spell of your choice on the alter 9 times. Then open the shrine and pull out the 9 black soul gems and your original 10 grand soul gems. Repeat. Each repetition will produce 9 more black soul gems without destroying your original grand soul gems.


Notes:

- Must follow the normal rules for when the shrine can be used.
- Must follow the normal rules for the type of grand soul gems used.
- Must be a "stack" of grand soul gems of at least 2 but preferably more.

I have had this happen twice now on my original XBOX 360 version. I started off with seven full black soul gems in my inventory as separate items. Somewhere in the process of the sins of the father quest they became stacked. From that point on every NPC I soul trapped was trapped in a black soul gem and I didn't lose any of the original full gems.

Different start date for the shade of the revenant?

As mentioned here, There may be an uncommon glitch to do with the start date of the Shade of the Revenant. I'm just testing now to determine whether or not it's happening every 7 days for me, or if it's happening every 8 days, but the cycle started later than it should've. The first time I witnessed the Shade, 85 days had passed. (85-1)/7=12, so that makes sense. But i'm just checking when the Shade occurs next. PS3 version. Okay, I waited 7 days, and it didn't occur. I'm guessing that means that the cycle started later than usual. Waiting one more day... Yep, the cycle started 1 day late. The fact that the day divided perfectly by 7 was pure coincidence. So this is an uncommon glitch that makes the cycle start 1 day late, but it still occurs every 8 days after that. Should this be added to the page?Flyingsandwich 04:17, 8 May 2009 (EDT)

Oops, forgot to sign there. Also, I just thought I should add the formula for if the glitch happened.
Where D=days passed stat, and R is any round number: if (D+3)/8=R then Shade=trueFlyingsandwich 04:17, 8 May 2009 (EDT)
I don't think that the change in the start day is standard in the glitch, I just saw the shade on day 132 that doesn't fit any of the formulas— Unsigned comment by 190.162.64.74 (talk) on 5 July 2009
I'm pretty sure that serving time in jail upsets the Shade of the Revenant dates. I went to the altar on Day 97 and the purple light didn't show up, so I waited two days and the light appeared on day 99 instead. I then went back to the original save on day 97 and caused some mayhem in Skingrad, earning me two days in jail. When I returned to the altar on Day 99 again, the purple light once more failed to appear. I waited two days again, and the Shade appeared on Day 101. Before this experiment, I had served some jail time before, which I believe screwed it up in the first place. Can anyone else confirm? 68.219.245.122 03:09, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
That's an interesting suggestion that definitely warrants further investigation. I've added the Good Question tag for now. –rpehTCE 07:15, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
Okay, you're definitely right. I got sent to jail for one day and it didn't affect the next Shade, but then I got myself a bounty of 2160 and went to jail for 21 days. I was expecting the next Shade to be on Frostfall 6 (day 41) but it didn't come until Frostall 10 (day 45). It needs some more testing to see exactly how the effect occurs. –rpehTCE 08:01, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

(u/d) I've tested this again and jail definitely affects the date of the SotR so I added a brief note to the article. If anybody wants to determine the exact relationship between time spent in jail and the change in the expected date... be my guest! rpeh •TCE 06:39, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Date help!

Im on the 128th day and whens the next Shade? --69.66.129.100 15:47, 10 August 2009 (UTC)mikespartan101

Tomorrow. But see the previous section. –rpehTCE 16:14, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
And one more thing I read the instructions and I waited on a day that is divisible by 8. Help please! — Unsigned comment by 69.66.129.100 (talk) on 10 August 2009
1) The Day MINUS 1 must be divisible by eight, which is why I said "Tomorrow". But read the previous section. If you've been to prison it could be any time. –rpehTCE 17:10, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Phases of the Moon?

I've been sent to jail a few times so the day for the Shade of the Revenant is off. It's a pain waiting for the right day and a waste of time. I was just wondering if you can get an idea when it will happen based on the phases of the moon(s). If anything at least get closer to the day. In the article Lore: Khajiit there is a section with pictures of the different phases.

Do black soul gems fill themselves?

I was fighting a dremora mage in an Oblivion world, and I had a single black soul gem in my inventory. When I killed him, I was very surprised to get the message that I had trapped a soul, as I had not cast soul trap. Do black soul gems actually fill themselves or is it possible that HE cast the spell, but it was effective for me, too? --IronMaiden 15:33, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

If you had a reflect spell on yourself, yes, but otherwise you could have picked up a soul trap weapon or cast a spell by mistake.--Arch-Mage MattTalk 16:02, 23 April 2010 (UTC)
Indeed, I was wearing a ring with that effect... Never even thought of it! Thanks for clearing this up! --IronMaiden 19:34, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

are there any permenant locations?

Wurm 23:34, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

If you mean guaranteed locations: no. Except during the Cheydinhal Recommendation quest, and those are special ones. rpeh •TCE 16:12, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
Oh ok thanks. did'nt have high hopes anyways. is there a level when you first start to see them, or do you always find them in necro dungeons? — Unsigned comment by The Wurm (talkcontribs) on 28 April 2010
Level 5. It already says that in the notes. rpeh •TCE 08:28, 29 April 2010 (UTC)
Ah ok. I'm being lazy, sorry. Wurm 22:07, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I am so confused

Ok so A soul trap? I never heard of it. I done all the mages guild quests and arcane university so I know where Dark Fissure is but explain what a soul trap is and where i can get one please (:/ JAMZZZ

It's a magical effect. See this. --Rigas Papadopoulos • TalkDeeds 07:24, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Filling multiple black soul gems

I don't know if this has been brought up anywhere yet but if you have large amounts of BSG's, (I'm not judging you), they can be filled very easily. First you will need soul trap, spells with 30 sec duration work best. Then you will need the staff of worms and an NPC. Soul trap and kill the NPC however you like. Then reanimate the NPC, wait a few seconds and cast the soul trap. As long as the soul trap effect lasts longer than the reanimate effect you will trap the soul when the reanimate effect wears off. Repeat this process. To do this in bulk go into a cave or other suitable situation and kill many NPC's, gather them into one area then reanimate/soul trap as many as you can. A soul trap spell with an area of effect may be good for this. If anyone has any concerns let me know otherwise im putting this up on the BSG page and anywhere else I see fit in a few days.Datacaust 07:25, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Please don't: it's not a very useful tip. There are more than enough dungeons with NPCs around that filling black soul gems isn't a problem. By the time you've reached the point of acquiring the Staff of Worms, you've probably got dozens of grand soul gems stashed somewhere, and enough gold that you can buy them if you get really stuck.
Incidentally, putting the same content in more than one place is never a good idea because it creates redundancy on the site. rpeh •TCE 09:57, 17 December 2010 (UTC)
Not a problem? my character is a dark elf female mage I'm keeping at low level to finish quests, i get soul gems and duplicate them. My point was that you can repeatedly soul trap the same characterS which i believe is exploiting a function of game mechanics and should at least be mentioned since for some reason i can't dupe full BSG's with scrolls. this page notes than you can trap summoned creatures why not reanimated ones in groups? also i think sometimes info can be easier to find when its in more than one footnote im not putting it up everywhere but maybe expanding the part on the soul trap, or any othre page that already covers the SOW/BSG exploit to using groups of NPC's, stuff like that. BSG's for me are a novelty, "..good is dumb" — Unsigned comment by Datacaust (talkcontribs) on 17 December 2010
In your case you exploit a bug to duplicate them, but in reality noone will have so many empty BSGs that will need souls in industrial quantities to fill them, and even so they are droped by necromancers wich have NPC souls. --Wizy (Talk/Contribs) 17:41, 17 December 2010 (UTC)
Exactly. It's basically one person's way of roleplaying. Most people with 100 black soul gems will fill them by going to several different dungeons / campsites and killing the inhabitants rather than continually respawning the same few people. If we include every single aspect of how each person plays the game, there'll be chaos. rpeh •TCE 17:50, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

OK fine. I maintain this should be mentioned here in some form as it is an exploit. Maybe just a note saying NPC's don't actually lose they're souls or script or whatever, I won't be the one to put it up. It is a hell of a lot easier to soul trap a passive character that just dies on cue, and in reality soul trap can fail and if you have the SOW you get a second chance, or third. Oh, the chaos.Datacaust 02:16, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

I've added a note to the Reanimate page, which seems to be the correct place for this information. rpeh •TCE 09:44, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Locations

Where can I find, already made, Black Soul Gems? I need one for the Vaermina quest.~~Argonian8 11:39PM March, 17/2011

Nowhere. You have to make your own. rpeh •TCE 08:01, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
You can sometimes find them on necromancers. It's rare though, so you'll probably have to go through a few dungeons to get one. Legoless 12:46, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
Fair point - I thought he meant guaranteed locations. rpeh •TCE 12:48, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

Black Soul Gem Glitch

(moved from the article)

  • If you have a large number of Black Soul Gems, the game seems to create more without you having any empty ones (un-patched version). They do not go into the "pile" with the others, but can be sold and used as normal.
  • A glitch exists which allows you to create multiple Black Soul Gems from the same Grand Soul Gem. If you place at least three filled Grand Soul Gems grouped on the same inventory line into the altar and cast the Soul Trap spell, all three will still be present along with the Black Soul Gem when you open the container. You can repeat this process, but all the gems must be removed and returned to the altar each time, or the entire group of Grand Soul Gems with disappear once your cast of soul trap spells equals the number of gems in the group.
Both these glitches seem to be talking about the same thing, but neither is particularly clear. If it means what I think it means then I've never seen it happen. Can we have confirmation please? rpeh •TCE 14:25, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

- The second item moved is from the Xbox version of the game, no mods. Please explain the need for further clarity - what part of the process was unclear - and I will work on the language. — Unsigned comment by Lockestep (talkcontribs) at 13:27 on 21 April 2011

Okay, so you're saying that if you put three Grand Soul Gems into the altar, and make sure the altar's contents shows a "3" as the count, then you can cast a Soul Trap spell and all three gems remain but a black soul gem is also created? I've tested this several times and can't get it to happen. rpeh •TCE 12:32, 21 April 2011 (UTC)
Hey this could be the separately stacked items glitch. Datacaust 20:16, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

I just tried this and can confirm it works on 360 full patch all DLC. It has to be done with filled grand soul gems I tested it with 3 and 4 gems and regular and AOE soultrap at dark fissure. Datacaust 03:51, 23 April 2011 (UTC)

The second glitch is the one I tested. The first one is hard to decipher. Datacaust 03:57, 23 April 2011 (UTC)
I'm putting it back. Datacaust 20:02, 16 May 2011 (UTC)


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