I'm planning to let J'zargo go and pick up another follower. I trust he will be at the college of Winterhold when I want him again. I've outfitted him with some armor, enchanted shield and enchanted weapon. Will he keep them indefinitely or should I remove and store them?

He'll unequip them, but they should remain in his inventory.

^this

Is that true for all followers?

Generally, yes, but I have had one of the Dark Brotherhood Initiates lose a bunch of gear.

The initiates are the strangest combination of respawning and essential; respawning NPCs were iffy with their inventory permanence in Oblivion, and I'd assume the same here.

Anyway, all followers will continue to carry what you gave them. They will wear the best weapons and use the best shield when fighting, but they won't put on any other gear than default unless following you. Suffice it to say, if they die on the way back home, you may lose things, but if the NPC lives in a city with a Hall of the Dead, your things might turn up when the NPC is interred in the city's catacombs.

But J'zargo is protected and can only be killed by you and by poisoned dart traps, so he should be fine. If you want to make sure, just take him home and let him go there.

You may want to take any armor or weapons he has that you really don't want to lose, but if he's carrying any scrolls or spell tomes, you're better off not taking them, just in case.

It seems like they reset when dismissed and back at the sanctuary, but that is not an educated guess.


Or Falmer/Chaurus poison, which can do HUGE DoT.