Hehehe. I just accidentally fried myself in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion after having set the game down for a month or so. My preliminary conclusion is this: do not use the electricity spell in my #4 slot to take out a dire wolf at point-blank range in the Colovian Highlands. I suspect I forgot I had a major area-effect spell there.
Off to do the forensics.
Update: I figured it out, and it's a neat way to self-inflict. There's a mod called Midas Magic which adds spell effects. One of the better assault spells is Grand Chain Lightning. The advantage of this spell is that it'll bounce around among one's enemies and can do a lot of damage for the magicka required to cast it. (For oblivion players, it's a rough equivalent to optimized crafted Journeyman spells.) The drawback is the very same thing. The spell will bounce around. Allies, enemies, the only person off the table is the caster. Or so I thought. Apparently, the spell chain-bounced between my horse and the dire wolf. That is, the dire wolf standing directly in front of me, and the horse standing directly behind me. I ended up taking the spell in transit in both directions, repeatedly.
Heh, oops.
As to the OP, I'm feeling pretty relaxed right now.