Oblivion talk:Absorb Skill

When can the Absorb skill: Mercantile spell be used? When cast on a merchant they consider it hostile and attack; guards come also.

Yeah, it's pretty nearly useless. I mean, you could cast it, then cast Calm, and then do business with them, but you still end up with a crime on record, and the guards will still try to arrest you. All to get what - slightly better prices when bartering? It's just not worth it. The only way it would work is if you find a merchant with a very low Responsibility who won't call the guards, but who is not surrounded by witnesses and also not a member of a faction you're in. Needless to say, there are very few people who fit these criteria. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 16:07, 13 October 2007 (EDT)

Is the base cost of Absorb Skill really 2.1? Because if it is, then it is cheaper to create a custom Drain Skill on Target+Fortify Skill on Self, making this effect useless.

Yes, that's the correct figure. And you're absolutely right about the alternative. I just tried it out and got the following for a 50 point, 60s spell:

Effect	Magicka Cost	Gold Cost
Absorb Skill (touch)	376	1128
Drain Skill (touch)	116	348
Fortify Skill (self)	223	669
Alternative Total	339	1017

...which means the combined spell 10% cheaper to cast and fractionally cheaper to make. --Rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 08:29, 1 December 2007 (EST)

Yes, cheaper to cast, but only if you got the Fortify Skill effect. Don't have it (yet?). In any case, you could summon some creature and cast Weakness to Magic + Absorb Mercantile, then barter with the merchant. Or you could command a human, drag him along to the merchant, cast the same spells on him, then barter. Since these are only 2 hostile spells, they won't get hostile. lol. This is so funny. WRFan 06:38, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Absorb Alchemy

Is this effect actually helpful or does it not work, the way Fortify Alchemy is bugged? Crayolamanic (talk) 04:15, 15 November 2015 (UTC)