I tried the spell on several creatures at medium range and did not get a soul on the kill. I could only get it to work at short range.

Is this supposed to be a short range spell? It seems rather useless if that is the case.

I have never noticed a range and I generally use it on a bow sniping from a distance.

Yes, it works fine with a bow at a distance. I'm talking about a spell that you cast.

Are you casting the spell or using an enchanted weapon? If it is a weapon, then the spell is cast when you hit the enemy, then it is cast again when the duration is up, or a soul is trapped. With a bow, the spell is cast when the arrow hits the enemy.

As for casting the spell, I have not seen an area of effect on the spell, only a duration. Now, if you do not kill the enemy in the duration, the spell will not have any effect. What is the duration?

I'm casting the spell and the duration is 60 seconds.

I think I'll forget about being a pure mage. Giving up things like soul trap weapons is too much of a hassle.

Yes the range is very short. It's not much longer than sword range, and it has very high magicka cost. But it has very long duration 60 seconds and helps level up conjuration a lot.

Also, the spell talks about the target, perhaps you need to aim the spell better.

However, your right, Soul Trap on a weapon is always better than as a spell, no matter how you ultimately kill them.

Soul Trap does seem to have a short range- about as short as Heal Other, it seems to me. Kind of annoying.

The short spell range is annoying. There are many times when I cast the spell in melee range and miss because the enemy moved to the side. On the bright side, it's one way to boost conjuration as opposed to using enchanted weapons. I just wish the spell wasn't so expensive, as it's easy to miss a moving target with it.

I use it quite a lot, especially if I go into combat against several opponents. I dodge about casting Soul Trap on each enemy, then dispatch them all by whatever means. But yes, the limited range is a bit awkward sometimes, and it's not always clear enough whether it's worked.

Me too. It's easier with an enchanted weapon, but having 60 seconds lets you kill at your liesure (and there's the advantage of raising conjuration mentioned earlier).

Perhaps it's because I use a mod that alters the Soul Trap effect so that it has a visible projectile, but the Soul Trap spell has the exact same range as any Destruction projectile for me. I put ST in one hand and non-shock spell in the other (so the time to actually hit the target isn't instant) such as a Firebolt and I can soul trap things from about as far away as I can see them which is pretty far at uGridsToLoad=7.

Just charge up and release both spells at the same time and if your aim is true and the target is unaware - boom, filled soul gem. Works great almost every time so really I love to go "magical hunting" in the wilds of Skyrim, heh. The various mudcrabs, deer, and elk that roam the plains around Whiterun make for great petty soul gem fodder and they usually never see it coming.