Oblivion:Acrobatics

Acrobatics allows your character to jump higher and fall greater distances without taking damage. Acrobatics also affects your ability to maneuver in midair. At high levels, you can actually jump one direction and completely change directions mid-jump. At higher levels, jumping can be incorporated into combat.

In-game Description: Jump long distances and avoid damage when falling great distances.

Mastery
Mastery Perks
A Novice cannot attack when jumping or falling
An Apprentice can perform normal attacks -- not power attacks -- when jumping or falling
A Journeyman gains the Dodge ability: while holding block, you can jump in any direction to do a quick avoidance roll. You can also perform power attacks when jumping or falling
An Expert suffers 50% less Fatigue loss when jumping
A Master gains the Water Jump ability, and, with precise timing, can jump off the surface of water

Skill Benefits
As your Acrobatics skill increases, you can jump higher, according to the following  :
 
The value of AcrobaticsSkill is not limited to a maximum value of 100; fortifying your skill past 100 will continue to increase your jumping height.

The damage taken by a fall also decreases as your skill increases, although the decrease is barely noticeable.  Fall damage is adjusted according to:
 
This equation seemingly contains a bug; as the FinalDamage at 100 skill is 1.24 times the base damage, while at 0 skill it is 1.25, the small difference (0.8%) likely means that the divisor (10000, a fixed in-game setting) is set too high.  See the notes section for more details.

Skill Increases
Your Acrobatics skill increases 0.3 experience points each time you jump (including each time you dodge), but only if the jump is started while you are fully "level with the ground".  In particular, when jumping while stationary, you are not considered to be level with the ground until the "recoil" animation finishes, making repeatedly jumping while stationary fairly ineffective as a way of gaining Acrobatics skill.  When jumping while moving in any direction, you are generally level with the ground the instant that you land, although this is not the case when moving up slopes or stairs.

Your Acrobatics skill also increases 3.0 experience points each time you take damage from falling.  The fall does not have to be the result of a jump, and it does not matter how much damage you take, only that you take some amount of damage--thus, it is more useful to have many slightly damaging falls than one huge, nearly-fatal fall.  

Because you gain experience whenever your character jumps, you will tend to constantly (but slowly) gain Acrobatics skill. One implication is that it is difficult to control Acrobatics skill increases. 

Tricks to increase your Acrobatics skill somewhat more artificially include:
If you just bunny hop everywhere you go, you'll level up Acrobatics pretty quickly. You waste fatigue that way though, so avoid it if there's a risk of a battle.
Once you achieve Journeyman level, instead of bunny hopping, dodge everywhere you go (see notes).
The rise of Acrobatics is also affected by taking damage on landing. However, it does not matter how much damage you take; you will always get a set amount of experience.  Any location at the top of a steep hill (Dive Rock for example) is a good place to train Acrobatics.  Take small, barely damaging falls down the hill, and use fast travel to return to the top.
There are some corners where your character's head is exactly touching the ceiling.  If you jump when standing in one of these spots, the jump takes no time, so you can level Acrobatics as quickly as you can press the jump key. Keep in mind that you must be pushing forward (moving into the wall) while doing this in order to get experience. Additionally, if you are casting spells or sweeping with your weapon during the process stated above, your Acrobatics skill will increase faster. Such places in or near the major cities include, but are not limited to, the following examples:
In The Lonely Suitor Lodge in Bravil, on the bar.
In the Mages Guild in Chorrol, there is a bookcase in the southeast room of the ground floor.  Stand on top of it.
In the little pond in Anvil, stand under the dock.
In a corner of the shed behind the Colovian Traders building in Skingrad, there are two boxes stacked together. Jump on top of them and keep jumping while running toward the corner.
Outside the Imperial Prison Sewers, where you finish the tutorial quest, there is a dock that you can repeatedly jump under. As this location is literally the first location you discover, and is easy to quick travel to, it is perhaps the most easily accessible location to train Acrobatics.
 

See also:
Increasing Skills: General tips on how to improve your skills semi-naturally.
Trainers: Pay for Acrobatics lessons.
 
Skill Books: Books that provide lessons in Acrobatics.
Increasing Attributes: Tips on training skills to improve the Speed attribute.
Free Skill Boosts: free Acrobatics skill boosts are available from a couple quests (A Rat Problem and Whodunit?) and are also available to Vampires.
Magic Items: There are multiple generic items with the Fortify Acrobatics enchantment.
Unique Items: A list of unique items, some of which fortify the Acrobatics skill. These do not include Leveled Items such as those received from quests, or Artifacts.
Unique items include:
Monkeypants is a pair of light greaves that can be obtained from Suurootan at Novaroma. Among other enchantments, the greaves fortify your Acrobatics skill by 10 points.
Shrouded Armor, which is awarded upon joining the Dark Brotherhood after the quest A Knife in the Dark. Among other enchantments, the armor fortifies the Acrobatics skill by 8, while the hood fortifies Acrobatics by 2.
The Boots of Springheel Jak are a pair of boots that fortify your Acrobatics skill by 50 points. The boots are obtainable during the same named quest, Boots of Springheel Jak. Refer to the quest article for more information about the boots.
Ring of the Gray is a reward for completing the quest The Rosethorn Cache. Among other enchantments the ring fortifies your Acrobatics skill by 5 points.

Dialogue
When your skill reaches 70 or higher, NPCs will start saying: "You've got a real bounce to your step.  I'll bet you're quite the acrobat."

Character Creation
The following races provide initial skill bonuses in Acrobatics:
+5 bonus: Bosmer
+10 bonus: Khajiit

The following standard classes include Acrobatics as a major skill:
Acrobat, Agent, Assassin, Monk, Nightblade, Scout, Thief

Messages
The following table provides the messages that are displayed when your Acrobatics skill levels up.



Notes
At level 50 acrobatics, you may not be able perform a regular sneak attack, only power attacks.
Acrobatics is one of only two skills (the other being Athletics) that can be meaningfully fortified above 100.  Increasing Acrobatics past 100 continues to increase the character's jump height, up to a maximum "natural" value of 255.  On the other hand, Acrobatics is not modified by your character's luck.
Using spell stacking, it is possible to temporarily push your Acrobatics past 255.  However, fortifying your Acrobatics past 500 makes your character shake violently while jumping. This glitch is more pronounced as you approach an Acrobatics level of 700, where the erratic shaking allows you to pass through walls and launch yourself incredible distances upward.
Fortifying your Acrobatics to 100 does let you jump off of the surface of water.
 
As a journeyman (skill 50 or higher), the dodge ability allows for faster travel on foot: press block, move forward/back/left/right, and repeatedly press jump. You will be moving much faster than if you were running, and can outrun most enemies. This drains your fatigue quickly, but even at zero fatigue you can continue to dodge without any slowdown.  You will gain Acrobatics experience, instead of Athletics experience, while using this move.
If you need to fall from a high place, starting the fall in sneak mode reduces damage a little. Also not moving (walking/running) while landing reduces the damage some. If you can, look for narrow ledges, diagonal slopes and such, and try to hit them while falling. Landing on them, even if you slip off them immediately, significantly reduces falling damage.
If you accidentally fall from a very high place and you probably won't survive the impact, you can either fast travel to another place or save/reload to save yourself. Saving and reloading will keep your character's location intact, but will reset the velocity.
If you visit the Steed birthsign doomstone you can receive the greater power Hellride.  This allows you to fortify your Acrobatics skill 20 points once a day for 120 seconds.
Once your combined Fame and Infamy reaches 10, you can also visit the Jone heaven doomstone to receive the greater power ''Jone's Shadow''.  One of several benefits of this power is that it fortifies your Acrobatics skill 30 points once a day for 120 seconds.
Doing a dodge roll will cancel any spell cast you are doing. If timed properly you can cast spells on yourself about 30% faster since canceling the end half 'cast on self' animation does not cancel the spell effect.

Bugs