Best place for 1st level mage to stock Petty Soul Gems?

[Bryan]

I acquired all of Galibedir's gems and enched a steel shortsword for +12 Fire. I have 10 empty pettys and 3 empty lessers. Where's the best area for me to farm souls for these gems?

Also, it seems soul trapping isn't guaranteed. What are the odds of success?

[slayor3000]

At level 1 you are not going to find any high level souls to steal. So only keep petty and lesser soul gems on you until the creatures you meet will give better.
Here is a list of creatures and what level soul can be obtained.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Souls

To buy more soul gems the trader in Tel Branora, Fadase Selvayn restocks Petty, Lesser, and Common Soul Gems. Sometimes find her with greater soul gems.
You cannot buy or sell soul gems from Galbedir no more, you will be attacked/ arrested.

You need to raise Mysticism to ensure a soul trap success. Open inventory and see the cost and what percent chance you have of casting successfully. The chance to cast goes down when fatigue not 100%.

[Valden21]

Good place to farm souls to fill up Petty Soul Gems and Lesser Soul Gems? The Bitter Coast, where you started the game. Mudcrabs, squibs, kwama foragers, and rats galore. As for increasing the chances of successfully casting Soul Trap, that's a Mysticism spell, so raise your Mysticism skill.

[piccolo255]

Originally posted by slayor3000:

You cannot buy or sell soul gems from Galbedir no more, you will be attacked/ arrested.

Correction: you can buy, you just can't sell (or enchant). I think that if you steal empty soul gems and fill them, it's safe to sell the filled ones, but I'm not 100% sure.

Originally posted by Valden21:

As for increasing the chances of successfully casting Soul Trap, that's a Mysticism spell, so raise your Mysticism skill.

Alternatively, enchant a melee weapon (IMHO, Short Swords work best) with a 5-10s "Cast on Strike" Soul Trap, bind it to "2", and bind your regular weapon to "1". Quickly swap shortly before you anticipate a killing strike, get one quick hit in with a Soul Trap weapon, then swap back and finish the monster.

(In case you don't know about binding stuff for quick swap, press "F1" to open the menu.)

Originally posted by Valden21:

The Bitter Coast, where you started the game. Mudcrabs, squibs, kwama foragers, and rats galore.

+1 for Bitter Coast, and I'd add the Seyda Neen -> Pelagiad -> Balmora road.

Alternatively, get some Summon spells. Summon Ancestor Ghost is a low-cost (lowest!) summon that's easy-to-kill and gives you a Common soul, as long as you have a weapon that can hurt it (silver or better material, or enchanted -- can be empty of charge).

It's a bit of a chore, since instead of adventuring you just stand in place, summon, soultrap, kill, heal HP&MP, rinse and repeat, but it's quick and easy and can help you out if you need a quick cash infusion. You can think of it as a fetch/exterminate quest in a "modern" game with repeatable quests

[slayor3000]

You CANNOT sell or buy from Galbedir no more, the stolen tag remains in place even if you fill an empty one with a soul.

Using a sword when playing a mage beats the object of being a mage. Unless you are not bothered with role-playing in an rpg. It could also raise attributes you do not wish to raise yet.

You will find plenty of creatures to soul trap when you start adventuring. Plenty of rats and Skeletons if going into Ancestral Tombs, there are 4 tombs quite close to Seyda Neen(Thelas, Samarys. Sarys and Andrano)
Travel to Vivec and go in sewers, plenty of rats.

[Nebgama]

Originally posted by Bryan:

I acquired all of Galibedir's gems and enched a steel shortsword for +12 Fire. I have 10 empty pettys and 3 empty lessers. Where's the best area for me to farm souls for these gems?

Also, it seems soul trapping isn't guaranteed. What are the odds of success?

Willpower governs all schools and governs your ability to cast successfully apart from a few other factors, the higher your mysticism skill is affect your success rate by level also.

Or there is a good soul trap axe in The Razor hole is behind a locked door though.

[piccolo255]

Originally posted by Bryan:

Also, it seems soul trapping isn't guaranteed. What are the odds of success?

Whoops, didn't notice that one. Casting is, as Nebgama says, affected by Willpower and Mysticism skill. Additionally, your Fatigue; never cast tired. The current success percentage is shown in the spell list, and as a red bar below the spell icon in the lower left. Larger Mysticism also lowers spell cost. (BTW, higher Enchant skill lowers how much charge is spent when using an enchanted item)

If your cast is successful, and the spell hits an enemy, the soul trap chance is 100%. You do need to kill the enemy before the spell expires (it's visible as a whitish swirl around the enemy while it's active), and have a large enough soul gem in your inventory (at least Petty for rats, at least Common for Ancestral Ghosts, etc.; check the link slayor posted in the first reply for a full list). Humans and some monsters can't be soultrapped, if you cast Soul Trap on those the game will tell you it failed.

Originally posted by slayor3000:

You CANNOT sell or buy from Galbedir no more, the stolen tag remains in place even if you fill an empty one with a soul.

I just tested it. You can buy (of course). If you steal, say, a common soul gem, you won't be able to sell or use in enchanting any common soul gems, empty or full. (I'm pretty sure that "filling gem clears stolen flag" works somewhere; it may have been either Oblivion or Skyrim.)

Originally posted by slayor3000:

Using a sword when playing a mage beats the object of being a mage. Unless you are not bothered with role-playing in an rpg.

I dunno, enchanted daggers seem very mage-like to me. Or you could enchant a staff. Sadly, the way magic works in Morrowind is not very conductive for "pure" mage characters, and playing one requires deep game knowledge and/or exploiting the game systems (Levitate, Alchemy, etc), or adding mods to tweak the problem spots (e.g., Magicka regen).

Also note that, despite the name, role playing is not really necessary in a CRPG :)

[slayor3000]

Yes mage/spell caster is difficult but once you get to know the different spells and how you can combine them to create more useful or powerful spells playing mage becomes easier.
Also enchanted items (2 good destruction rings in Caldera early game to help out) are a mages best friend alongside alchemy.

Do not know what levels you are in your skills, but an example of a soul trap/ destruction spell with a 100% success rate if you keep fatigue close to full. Destruction at 55, Mysticism at 55, Willpower at 40.

Target Spell Touch Spell
Fire damage 10-30 Fire Damage 20-40
Soul Trap 1 second Soul Trap 1 second

Go a few levels higher and start adding area affect spells.
To keep fatigue high, use potions, restore fatigue spell or enchanted item.

Yes you are right you can sell and buy other things from Galbedir (I do not think I have ever seen here with soul gems to sell).
But also beware some of those stolen soul gems because they have dual ownership. Use console and tfh if you want to see who owns what.
I actually use mod which highlights stolen items in my inventory when I come to barter.

[piccolo255]

Originally posted by slayor3000:

Also enchanted items (2 good destruction rings in Caldera early game to help out) are a mages best friend alongside alchemy.

Ah yes, forgot about other enchanted items! Instead of a Soul Trap weapon, a Cast on Use ring or some other apparel may work better. No need to swap between weapon and magic attacks, and the enchantment can be made long range.

Originally posted by slayor3000:

Yes you are right you can sell and buy other things from Galbedir (I do not think I have ever seen here with soul gems to sell).

One of the mods I have changes her inventory (along with many other merchants) so I can't check myself, but according to the UESP ( https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Galbedir ) she sells a total of 9 (non-restocking) Soul Gems, from Petty to Grand.

However, as a lot of the merchant's inventory in MW is physically placed around their shop, there's a good chance that the Soul Gems in question are the ones you steal, in which case she wouldn't be able to sell them anymore :)

There's also a chance that a player sells her some of the looted gems before stealing the originals, so safe buying = you can buy them back later when you need them.

[The Oscar Goes To...]

You can farm soul gems in ancient tombs: enter the place, kill the bonewhatever that has a soul gem inside, dispose the corpse, leave the place, and again enter and you will find your bonesomething, you have to find out if those enemies will enter the soul gems.