((I guess now it is time to ask: Are our skills only for flavor?))
Not... quite. Basically, you can't cast magic you don't have the school for (beyond very basic level), Elenor can't use any magic at all. Similarily, that stuff Ratherio pulls off while dodging? He has agility as one of his skills, so he gets to be much more slippery. (Note to self: Remember that Remy is even more slippery.) Hell, a Gunchuck Master wouldn't autobondage at all.
You really might have noticed I am rather anal when it comes to the magic system. That's because it's one of the few things that are more regulated in this game.
I basically do not tweak the rolls you get by adding or subtracting factors, because I believe that isn't the right way. By my style of GMing, the Partial Success of a Archmage when casting spells is much different than what an Initiate would do with the same roll and the same spell. (Namely, the higher your skill, the lesser the impact of a bad roll. Good rolls are usually similar except when the Initiate gets in over his head.) And when the Archmage overshoots, he overshoots on a whole different level.
Another example: Elenor was caught hard by the shockwave because his action was about at the same time as the Golem's. Apollo got caught because he's Apollo. Remy was bound, and he would always have been caught in some way.
Furthermore, you have already thought of certain adventurer classes or whatnot when making characters - so you will usually do what you are good at already. If not, well - you get worse/less satisfactory results. The downside of this system is that it is much more arbitrary - please deal with that, I haven't found a better system that suits my tastes as GM to date.
And an aspect of that arbitration is that Elenor now will benefit from Defensive Stances in some way. Have fun!