The only way I've managed to avoid aoe's is by
a) casting/attacking after out of the aoe so the game registers I've actually moved
b) move waaaaay to the side, like other side of the room

and even then they don't always work, but it's still better than nothing. I still get dragonbreathed in Brayflox or slapped senseless in Sunken Temple by the golem, but at least not all the time. Funnily enough I have no problems in Darkhold's second boss with the gazillion aoe's. But that dragon in Stonevigil still makes my blood boil.

By the time I reach 50, I ought to be an Oracle class with all the aoe-predicting, durhur.