Soul Gems - What?

[I Am Naga Sadow]

I feel like an idiot saying this, but what do Soul Gems actually do? Should I sell them, or are they useless? I just got this game (it rocks!) but I don't understand Soul Gems. Also, how do i repair my own stuff? No matter how good an armourer I am, I can find no button allowing me to repair my own stuff. Please help, thenks.

[fable]

First, you have to kill something after casting a soul stealing spell, and while that spell is in effect. Then, the soul of the killed creature enters the smallest gem that can hold it which you have in your inventory. Occupied soul gems can be used to enchant items, and to recharge items that require mana charges. You simply move the gem over yourself from the inventory menu, and an enchanting interface appears that lets you select which action you wish do you use with the gem, what item it should be used upon, and (if enchanting) what spell(s) you want to use. Note that the only available spells are those you've already learned.

[I Am Naga Sadow]

Thanks Fable, both for the quick reply and for clearing up that little mess I'd got myself into with the double threads. (It was you I presume!). Thanks again, and sorry if this has already been discussed. Just a couple of quick qs: Can you enchant previously enchanted items, and do the spells have limited uses? Also, does the value of the Gem count for anything?

[Magrus]

To add to that, you need to buy tools to repair your stuff with. Hammers can be dragged onto your portrait as said above and options appear to repair items.

Also, unless you have a high enchant rating (50+) I recommend holding onto soulgems you have with souls in them. You can use them to recharge items with charges easily enough, but actually making new items on your own is risky unless you are near maxed out with your enchant skill unless you do those with fairly weak enchantments.

There is a quest to get a special soulgem called the Azura's Star. It's a reusable soul gem that doesn't dissapear after being used (the rest are one use items) and can hold any soul in the game. It's quite handy if you enchant things.

A trick for enchanting items and capturing souls, grab the soultrap spell and make a on-hit soultrap effect on a weapon. Simply wear down an enemy, switch to this special weapon, whack the opponent, switch back and you kill it and it will soultrap the thing. It's useful for those who'd rather just swing a sword to cause that effect rather than cast a spell.

[I Am Naga Sadow]

Thanks for that. The Balmora Archmage (from the guild) gave me Dagger of Soul Stealing, that is enchanted with Soul Trap. Thanks again, everyone!

[Magrus]

Your welcome. Happy hunting.

It might be worth it to train your enchant skill at a trainer so you don't waste your soul gems trying to use them when you do. That is entirely too frustrating to lose a good soul in a nice gem from failure over and over and over again.

[giles337]

Or, grab as many bound items as you can, and let them all off in a row. If you're lucky, your enchant skill may raise a point