I have a breton which give me Resist Magic 50% on self and than i have Atronach which give me Spell Absorption 50% on Self.
How come i still get damage from magic attack.

They are both different effects. Resistance to magic allows you to resist half of what is cast at you (e.g. 100 point spell damage is turned into 50 point damage). Absorb spell is simply absorption of the spell, 50% of the time. 100% spell absorption makes you absorb all spells. Do they both offer 50% defense to magic? Yes. However, they are different.

You have a 50% chance of resisting. If the magic isn't resisted, there is a 50% chance it's absorbed. It may be the other way around, but regardless your chance of avoiding magic damage is .5 + .5*.5 = 75%. It's not 100% protection, it's 75%.

It has to do with math and probablity which is my bad suit so I cant explain it to well. I think it works like this (somebody will correct me but its the general idea)

When an enemy casts a spell at you you have a 50% chance to resist it and a 50% chance to absorb it so possible outcomes are;

Resist 50%:Absorb:50%:Take 0%
Resist 50%: Fail to Absorb 50%:Take 50%
Fail to Resist 50%:Absorb 50%:Take 50%
Fail to Resist 50%:Fail to Absorb 50%: Take 100%


That may not be exactly how its calculated but the % has to do with the chance of an effect occuring, not how much of the spell the effect works on, and they are calculated seperately. Make since???

Again Im pretty sure Im wrong about how its calculated because I am totally crap at math but at any rate it doesnt work the way youd like it too.

Dude I just posted the probability of avoiding magic damage. It is 75%

You don't resist part of a spell with 50% resist, nor do you absorb part of a spell. There's a 50% chance you absorb or resist all of the spell. Putting the 2 effects together, there is a 75% chance of avoiding magic damage

Yeah Kilik Im sure you explained it properly I just have a mental block with math and statistics. I cannot for the life of me grasp it. I know its very easy for most people, but I cant understand it.

I just keep getting better and better items till Im a beast lol.

I see, thank you so much.

With Atronach, it's hard to level up the magic skill.

but it's fun.

Lol, probability can be a [censored], that's for sure.

The main point here though is that there is no "partial" absorption or resist or reflect. The percentage represents your chance of absorbing/resisting/reflecting all of a spell. However, as Grizzly explained, the effects don't add up. You have a chance of resisting, and if the spell isn't resisted (which will happen half the time) you have a chance of absorbing what was missed by the resist. If the absorb fails (which will happen half the time) you get hit.

As for leveling magic skills, just find an alyeid ruin with a fountain. It will give you back all your magicka and at midnight it replenishes. THere is one northwest of bravil

An atronarch with spell absorption gear can hit 100% easy in the late game.... I do not think you can absorb spells you cast on yourself though, which is good.

I play atronach all the time, the key to it is first thing out of the sewer raid vilverin and take all the weklynd stones. Use those when you need them. Next play through mages guild till you can access the arcane university garden. Then just mass produce potions for magicka. You can actually get to a point where you rip through potions and refill your magicka faster than having 100 Willpower.

Well you can absorb telekinesis, which is a good way to replenish magicka for those with 100% spell absorption. Research this if you dare; it'll make your character godly and the game boring.

When a character with multiple magic protections is magically attacked, the order in which the checks are applied is as follows: Reflect, Absorb, Resist.

Spell absorption is all or none. Let's assume your char has 50% spell absorption: The char has a 50% chance of absorbing the spell. If successfull, the entire spell is absorbed.

Resist magic works differently. Let's assume your char has 50% magic resistance: The char will resist half the damage of every single spell he is hit with.


So. . . OPs character will check for spell absorption first and fully absorb every other magical attack. After absorb has done its thing (or failed half the time), magic resistance will halve the magical effects of any magic attacks that get past the spell absorption.

References:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Spell_Absorption
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Resist_Magic
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Magical_Effects#Reflect_vs_Absorb_vs_Resist

There are a lot of incorrect statements at the beginning of the thread.

Please see Acadian's post above for the correct information.

Since there was conflicting information, just want to point out what is the correct info. (order of checks reflect, absorb, resist; reflect and absorb are all or nothing; if the spells is not reflected or absorbed it is always reduced by half).

thanks Acadian, your information is useful.

Actually, the Spell Absorption works how you say, while Resist Magic actually is a constant resist-half-the-damage thing. So, there is a 50% chance to take no damage, and a 50% chance to take half.

^ Yeah, my bad. I don't know what I was thinking. I never really bothered with resist magic and totally [censored] up explaining all of this