Soul Binding

You can increase the EP potential of the items you create by the process of soul binding.  In order to soul-bind an item you need to have a soul gem with something inside it. You may buy soul gems from Mages Guilds (rank 4 and above), Assassins Guilds (rank 5 and above) and from some temples. The gems look like diamonds and may be empty or contain some creature (the description box will tell you what the gem contains when you examine it using the "info" button).  If you buy empty soul gems, you must buy or make a soul-trap spell in order to fill it.

When you're ready to fill the soul gem, cast the soul-trap spell at the creature you want to collect.  The creature gets a saving throw against the spell, so you'll either see "Trap Active" or "Spell effect failed" at the top of your screen.  Once you get the "Trap Active" message, you must kill the creature before the spell duration expires.  Once this is accomplished, the creature's soul is trapped inside the gem and ready for use.  Randomly encountered Dragonlings may be soul trapped, but will not work in the item-maker.  The only Dragonlings which will work in the item maker are those which you go after on Knightly Order quests or which you buy from the guild (I have found soul gems with Dragonlings in Ha-Thar of Antyphyllos fairly consistently -- 505,000 gp a pop).  Please note you may not soul bind humans.

"Danger, Will Robinson":  If you have cast a "Soul Trap" spell and do not have an empty recepticle, the creature WILL NOT DIE until the spell duration expires.  You can inflict hundreds, nay, thousands of points of damage on it and it will just stand there and sneer at you.  On the other hand, when the duration expires, a good sneeze will take care of it.

****Rumor has it that humans may be soul trapped by using Azura's Star (a re-usable soul gem).  The rumor also states that human souls provide thousands (over 100,000 in some cases) EP's and carry no disadvantages.  I have worked to prove or disprove this rumor and have been completely unsuccessful at it.  If you have some conclusive proof that it is possible to soul trap a human, please e-mail me.****

Once you have a filled gem, you may use it by selecting the "Soul Bound" disadvantage on the item-maker screen.  In the unpatched version of the game, it was possible to bind multiple souls into an item.  This ability was removed with the v.195 patch.

The major disadvantage of soul binding is that when the item breaks, the creature you bound is released. It will appear somewhere nearby, and will not be a happy camper.  In the case of most creatures, this is more of an annoyance than a threat.  In some cases (e.g. Daedra Lords, Vampire Ancients, and Ancient Liches), the release of the creature can result in a major confrontation.

In addition to the EP's they provide, some souls will add advantages or disadvantages to the item you create.  These advantages/disadvantages take up slots and may reduce the number of powers and side effects available to give the item.  Some souls cost additional GP to bind.  If there is a number in parentheses below the creature's name, it is the cost in GP to bind the soul into the item.