I'm not new to software development but I am a rank noob as far as object creation and scripting writing in the GECK. If someone could point me to an example, that would be all I need. Essentially, I am trying to create an armor item that has a defined lifetime. It should degrade over time until it becomes useless. I've tried using the "Add Destruction Data" button in the GECK and setting self damage but it never seems to do anything. I've tried adding a script with a timer that inflicts damage over time but haven't gotten that to work either. Any suggestions, examples, pointers, etc would be greatly appreciated!

They won't work as they run off 'real' references, and objects in inventory don't have one. You can use the NVSE function ModEquippedCurrentCondition to cause the armour to degrade, but only if it's equipped (as thanks to the way objects are stored in inventory, it's not possible to pick out specific ones with any ease unless they're equipped).

Thanks! And the goal is to have it only degrade when equipped so that's a bonus rather than a problem in this case.

Might be instructive to look into how summoned, bound armor was done in Oblivion, oftentimes looking at old legacy stuff gives me ideas, though sometimes it just doesn't work flat-out in GECK.

There is a Bound Item base effect that might be just the ticket, but it's listed as unused/unsupported in the GECK documentation.

I'm interested in playing around with it I'll let you know what I find

I have indeed been going back to the legacy docs for information that I can't otherwise find. I've just about got this working the way I want it -- at least as far as the decay goes. The item is a personal force field add-on to the PipBoy. You build it from scrap electronics and a fission battery and equip it on the left hand. It gives you extra DT/DR for a short period of time at the expense of a severely reduced sneak because of the sound it makes. I created an effect script that slowly degrades the equipped item and unequips it at 0 and an Actor "Ability" effect based on it. The effect is launched from an Object script using the info I found here: http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/ScriptEffectUpdate

I have yet to get it to make the sound I want but otherwise it does what I want.