In my humble opinion, magic is one area in which The Elder Scrolls has always excelled. The multiple schools, the vast selection of magic effects, and especially the ability to combine them together to create unique spells all add up to a very satisfying freeform gaming experience. With that in mind, one of the first things that you will notice about magic in Oblivion is that it is relatively similar to what we’ve seen in previous TES games. The spellmaker is there (Mages Guild members only!), we have kept the same six magic schools, and there are still a ton of magic effects and enchanted items. There’s lots of new stuff too, as well as many improvements to the feel of the whole system, but as far as basic functionality the idea is evolution over revolution.