I don't know if this is a bug or some strange intention built into the code, but I'm encountering this a lot more frequently as I get higher level.

I was under the impression that the Grand soul gems could store all but the most massive souls (dragons). The problem I'm running into, however, is that even the lower level enemies (just regular Bandits) are getting this message even though I have over 20 empty Grand soul gems on me. This makes it exceedingly difficult to stock up on Grand soul gems for future sets of armor or to quickly repower an enchanted weapon.

Has anyone else run into this?

If its a human soul then its a black soul gem if the physics are the same as before if theres a problem with that just get azuras star.

I feel a song coming on...

"Cause there ain't no mountain hiiiigh enough, ain't no valley deeeeeep enough, ain't to soul gem laaaarge enough, to keep me from killing youuuuuuuuu"

Indeed. Sentient races like humans, mer and beast races require black soul gems to trap them. They cannot be trapped in grand soul gems.

Odd. It was trapping them before when I had no black soul gems and I was lower level. Guess something is just wonky on my end.

Dragon souls can't be captured. As a Dovahkiin, you're absorbing them into yourself, remember?

EDIT: Oops, misread your original post. Please disregard this message...

I have noticed that also. It makes no sense really as I too was capturing human souls well before I actually had any Black Soul Gems. I have even gotten thaqt message when killing a mudcrab for thew love of god. Just how grand of a soul can a mudcrab have that it cannot be captured in a petty or Lesser Gem? It must be some kind of glitch or another, not really sure...

Unlikely. Black Soul Gems or Azura's Star if done a certain way are the only gems that can capture sentient souls.

Perhaps this is an issue that needs to be reported as a bug.

Really? I have not actually had that many black soul gems in this game at all. they are somewhat of a rarity... I definitely have a plethora of filled gems, not more than four are black soul gems and they are already filled.

I stand corrected. Black soul gems are in fact the only gems that can take humanoid or Mer souls.

That's the way it's suppose to work. If it's not, then your game is not working as intented.

Black star and black soul gems for NPC's.

Azura's star ,petty, lesser, common, greater, grand for creatures/animals/monsters.

On a similar note, I once had a lesser soul in my black star. I thought all humanoids had grand souls.

I know this is how it's supposed to work, but long before I ever got my first Black Soul Gem, I killed a Bandit and captured the soul. At that time, I didn't even know about Azura's Star or that quest. I'm considering this to be a bug.

Also, as joliette said, I've gotten that same issue with lesser creatures while having a stack of empty gems. Now if the creature is resisting the Soul Trap, then it needs to be said. I've noticed the updates for various things aren't consistent. ...unless it's the removal of gold at a merchant. =/

You must have trapped a creature with a lesser soul and had no lesser, common, greater or regular grand soul gems in your inventory at the time, so it went to your black star. Souls will automatically fill the smallest gem available that they'll fit in. And the black star is glitched; it's supposed to only hold black (humanoid) souls, but it will take any soul available in the game.

Yikes, thanks, I did not know Black Star was glitched.... I will make doubly sure I have a good stock of empty gems at every level before heading out!

Some of the new creature types do not have souls anymore like Morrowind and Oblivion, mainly some undead types and daedra now.

Does anyone have a good source for black soul gems?

Did you know you can just drop a gem out of your inventory to un-fill it?

Fallion in Morthal usually has a couple of black soul gems. There's also a guy in the mages college that has them.

To clarify what some people might not get:

Only black soul gems (and the black star) can hold humanoid souls. Falmer and Draugr do not count as humanoid.

When you capture a soul it will go into the smallest empty gem that you have that can hold it. But if all you have is a grand soul gem when you soul trap a mudcrab, then there's going to be a petty soul in your grand soul gem.

Don't think it's the reason here, but the game also gives you that message if all your soul gems are filled.

I don't think it is a glitch. The Black Star is a regular soul gem in that it can capture any soul, it is just able to capture Sentient Souls. And, yes, it is refillable. The same issue applies with the black soul gem if you have no other soul gems in inventory, then the soul of whatever you capture will go in the black soul gem.

Take away from all this:

1. Have a good supply of soul gems if you are going to use a Soul Trap Weapon or Spell
2. Don't use your Soul Trap Weapon or Spell if you are not collecting souls so you don't fill up your gems with souls you don't want.