Playing Skyrim on Console (360) playing a Pure Cloth-style Mage Build. Despite the lag in Destruction Magic, I've been having a ton of fun with the character... and blasting foes to smithereens with Thunderbolts.

The issue is the Atronach Stone Bug. For any of you who may not be aware, this Atronach Stone imbues your character with a certain level of Magic Absorption (that always stacks with Absorption from the Alteration tree Perks and Breton's "Dragonskin" Racial Ability). This of course, is designed to make your character more resistant to enemy spells and improve survivability... but it has once heinous drawback.

The way Skyrim treats Summoning Skills (specially Atronachs and Daedra spells), is as an effect centered on the caster, it self. For some reason, it treats these Spells almost as hostile effects; and are susceptible to being absorbed by your own Magic Absorption Ratio (unlike other on-caster effects, such as Ebony Flesh). This makes calling an Atronach in the heat of battle nearly an impossible chore... as the spell will fail nearly 30-40% percent of the time; even MORE so if you have stackable Magical Absorption effects, as described above.

This has really ruined the overall experience of my Mage for me. I sort of went with a Storm-Elemental theme, using purely Lightning Destruction Magic with support from the Conjuration Tree for Storm Atronachs (which acted as my meat shields and distractions). Without the ability to consistently use my Atronachs with reliability, it has made fights much more difficult and far less enjoyable.

This effect is of course reduced by simply switching the Atronach Stone to another Standing Stone... which for most Mages, would likely be the Apprentice Stone. Not that it's a terrible choice, but it sort of angers me that I can't choose to play a character with the bonuses I want and am forced to use a build with a Weakness to a Magicka and a boost to Mana Regeneration, which I already have more than enough of.

Bottom line;l is there any to fix this for console users as of now? Any way to still use the Atronach Stone and not have your Conjuration Spells be entirely useless? Or, even better; has there been any word of Bethesda formally recognizing this issue and planning on patching it? I just want my Arch-Mage to be as awesome as I have dreamed and designed him up to be.

Actually it is. Apprentice is one of the worst stones in the game.

I'm afraid there's no fix. If it makes you feel better, there's no fix for it on the PC either.

Not so fast, my friend:

http://skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3352

DLing this tiny mod fixes all Spell Absorb bugs for PC users. This includes absorbing your own atronach summons, and the Shadow Warrior and Quick Reflexes perk effects (which can be absorbed as well.) I use the mod and have never absorbed any summons -- it works!
-Loth

@G0dzuk1: I hope Bethesda de-bugs it for consoles for you.

If survivability is your goal with atronach stone, maybe Lord Stone would be a decent enough alternative. 25% Magic Resist and 40? points of armor.