How does Azura's star work?

[Casper]

Can I use it on more than one weapon or is it stuck on the weapon I put it on. I want to know if I should wait until my enchanting is up enough to create a weapon worthy of it.

[Willow Rivers]

It is a resusable soul gem, works like all the other soul gems except it does not get destroyed when you use the soul in it.

[Casper]

So it is not re-usable then. Good to know, I will wait until I can create a badass weapon before applying it. thx

[Helrato]

Originally posted by Casper:

So it is not re-usable then. Good to know, I will wait until I can create a badass weapon before applying it. thx

What? No, it is reuseable

[Willow Rivers]

Originally posted by Casper:

So it is not re-usable then. Good to know, I will wait until I can create a badass weapon before applying it. thx

It is reusable. After you use the soul you can fill it again with another soul. It is a unlimtied use soul gem.

[Casper]

Sorry, what I mean by re-usable is that you cannot take it off of a weapon and then put it onto another, or are you saying this is possible. I get that it doesnt get destroyed and I just have to trap another soul, rather than use another soul gem, to charge the weapon.

[Bomb Bloke]

The Star doesn't let you sap charge from weapons. Other than the "can't be destroyed" bit, it works like a normal gem.

Originally posted by Docsprock:

I usually toss it into a drawer at home. Black soul gems do the same thing, and they are everywhere.

IKR?

Back in Morrowind / Oblivion it was significantly more valuable; you could summon beings with grand souls, trap them, and enchant a whole bunch of gear without having to leave the house.

In Skyrim the only summon with a max-sized soul happens to be immune to the trap spell... and regular gems are significantly more common. It's baloney.

[Mytheos]

@OP

You cast soul trap on an enemy, and kill it, the soul becomes trapped if you have an appropriate soul gem to contain it.

You then use the gem to enchant something...the gem is then destroyed in the process.

Weapons can be enchanted with effects such as fire damage on strike, which will eventually run out of charges...and must be refilled with with a soul gem.

Once a soul gem is used to recharge a weapon it is destroyed.


Black Soul Gems are used to capture ONLY human souls, and ALL human souls are Grand, the largest that exist in the game.

The Black Star is the same as a Black Soul Gem, except after being used to enchant an item, or recharge an item, is NOT destroyed.

This means you can soul trap humans, which are VERY common enemies in the game to easily enchant gear and easily recharge all your enchanted weapons.

[Mytheos]

Originally posted by Docsprock:

I usually toss it into a drawer at home. Black soul gems do the same thing, and they are everywhere.

They are slightly rare vs all other soul gems, and in no way so common you wont have to go buy them from shops from time to time.

I have no idea what mods you use to where they are so common you dont even use The Black Star.

I can only think you play as a mage and dont often have to recharge your weapons...or simply dont use enchanted weapons.

[Bomb Bloke]

Originally posted by Mytheos:

Black Soul Gems are used to capture ONLY human souls,

Worth noting that without the unofficial patches, they capture all souls - same as they did back in Oblivion. I've no idea why that particular change was made.

Edit: This only applies to an old version on the patch; see posts below for clarification.

[Willow Rivers]

Originally posted by Bomb Bloke:

Originally posted by Mytheos:

Black Soul Gems are used to capture ONLY human souls,

Worth noting that without the unofficial patches, they capture all souls - same as they did back in Oblivion. I've no idea why that particular change was made.

I use the Aquisitive Soul Gem mod, it is a mod that will not undefill a soul gem. If you don't have a soul gem of the correct size for the soul then it will fail to capture. No capturing petty souls in grand and black soul gems and such.

[Mytheos]

Originally posted by Bomb Bloke:

Originally posted by Mytheos:

Black Soul Gems are used to capture ONLY human souls,

Worth noting that without the unofficial patches, they capture all souls - same as they did back in Oblivion. I've no idea why that particular change was made.

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Black_Soul_Gem

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Soul_Gems

Black Soul gems are the same in Oblivion as Skyrim...and there is no note about the Unofficial Patch correcting anything about Black Soul Gems capturing non-human souls.

They are as they have always been, there is even lore in game explaining them and their use.

[Bomb Bloke]

Originally posted by Mytheos:

...and there is no note about the Unofficial Patch correcting anything about Black Soul Gems capturing non-human souls.

Actually yeah, there is:

Originally posted by v3.0.7 (2016-10-29):

Further research into the lore behind Black Soul Gems indicates that although not ideal, they are supposed to be able to carry any type of soul. The only lore restriction on them is the process by which they are made, which is irrelevant in terms of Skyrim loot. The fix for Bug #14194 has therefore been modified to only work on Azura's Black Star, which is definitively mentioned in lore and in-game dialogue as ONLY accepting black souls, while Azura's White Star will only accept white souls (non-human/mer NPCs).

https://afkmods.iguanadons.net/Unofficial%20Skyrim%20Legendary%20Edition%20Patch%20Version%20History.html

That is to say, the change I mentioned actually got reverted by a later update to the patch. Those running the latest version should again be able to capture any soul with Black Gems.

[Casper]

Originally posted by Mytheos:

@OP

You cast soul trap on an enemy, and kill it, the soul becomes trapped if you have an appropriate soul gem to contain it.

You then use the gem to enchant something...the gem is then destroyed in the process.

Weapons can be enchanted with effects such as fire damage on strike, which will eventually run out of charges...and must be refilled with with a soul gem.

Once a soul gem is used to recharge a weapon it is destroyed.


Black Soul Gems are used to capture ONLY human souls, and ALL human souls are Grand, the largest that exist in the game.

The Black Star is the same as a Black Soul Gem, except after being used to enchant an item, or recharge an item, is NOT destroyed.

This means you can soul trap humans, which are VERY common enemies in the game to easily enchant gear and easily recharge all your enchanted weapons.

Thank you for your layman's explanation, so if I am understanding you correctly, I can use the star on any weapon. So it is essentially infinite black soul gems so long as I re-trap a soul after I use it.

[Willow Rivers]

Originally posted by Casper:

Originally posted by Mytheos:

@OP

You cast soul trap on an enemy, and kill it, the soul becomes trapped if you have an appropriate soul gem to contain it.

You then use the gem to enchant something...the gem is then destroyed in the process.

Weapons can be enchanted with effects such as fire damage on strike, which will eventually run out of charges...and must be refilled with with a soul gem.

Once a soul gem is used to recharge a weapon it is destroyed.


Black Soul Gems are used to capture ONLY human souls, and ALL human souls are Grand, the largest that exist in the game.

The Black Star is the same as a Black Soul Gem, except after being used to enchant an item, or recharge an item, is NOT destroyed.

This means you can soul trap humans, which are VERY common enemies in the game to easily enchant gear and easily recharge all your enchanted weapons.

Thank you for your layman's explanation, so if I am understanding you correctly, I can use the star on any weapon. So it is essentially infinite black soul gems so long as I re-trap a soul after I use it.

Yes.

[Mytheos]

Originally posted by Bomb Bloke:

Originally posted by Mytheos:

...and there is no note about the Unofficial Patch correcting anything about Black Soul Gems capturing non-human souls.

Actually yeah, there is:

Originally posted by v3.0.7 (2016-10-29):

Further research into the lore behind Black Soul Gems indicates that although not ideal, they are supposed to be able to carry any type of soul. The only lore restriction on them is the process by which they are made, which is irrelevant in terms of Skyrim loot. The fix for Bug #14194 has therefore been modified to only work on Azura's Black Star, which is definitively mentioned in lore and in-game dialogue as ONLY accepting black souls, while Azura's White Star will only accept white souls (non-human/mer NPCs).

https://afkmods.iguanadons.net/Unofficial%20Skyrim%20Legendary%20Edition%20Patch%20Version%20History.html

That is to say, the change I mentioned actually got reverted by a later update to the patch. Those running the latest version should again be able to capture any soul with Black Gems.

From the in Skyrim book: Souls, Black and White

The nature of the soul is not knowable. Every wizard that has attempted it vanishes without a trace. What can be known is that souls are a source of mystic energy that can be harvested.

Every creature, living or dead, is powered by a soul. Without it, they are just lumps of flesh or piles of bones. This animating force can be contained within a soul gem, if the soul gem has the capacity. From the gem, the power can be used to power magical items.

Centuries of experimentation has demonstrated that there are black souls and white souls. Only the rare black soul gem can hold the soul of a higher creature, such as a man or an elf. While the souls of lesser creatures can be captured by gems of many colors, they are all categorized as white soul gems. Hence the division of souls into black and white.

White souls are far safer than black souls, although not as powerful. Beginning students of Mysticism should not dabble in black souls or black soul gems. Even if one were to ignore the guild strictures against the necromatic arts used to power black soul gems, it is dangerous to the caster to handle them for long. If the gem is not precisely the size of the encased soul, small bits of the caster's soul may leak into the gem when it is touched.



Nelacar - There's another rule the artifact follows. You can only store white souls in the Star, belonging to the lesser creatures. Azura's magic won't allow black souls to enter it. As a mortal, Malyn's soul was black, so part of his work was breaking past Azura's rules. He was close before... well, I already told you."

Nelacar - "Now? You could use it for what we meant it for. Using black souls for enchanting. The Black Star will never decay, but it can no longer hold the white souls of lesser creatures.



So there is an in game book telling you about Black Soul Gems and their use...and Nelacar's dialogue from the quest to make Azura's Star The Back Star...

Not sure how someone could miss that...