1. So with Lydia or companions (who you can give gear to) will they use the gear you give them? Will they put on better armor? Use better weapons? Or do you have to make them equip them some way?

1a. And are they stupid and can't follow you unless you are on a road or what? I try to cut across country in some rocky areas and Lydia just can't seem to want to hop over a small rock so she takes off in another direction and I don't see her for a while. Anything I can do to help her keep up?

2. Also, it was my understanding that one of the reasons they combined greaves/cuirass and clothing tops/bottoms was to get rid of clipping issues (aside from rendering, etc...)? But I put on Mages black robes and they clip horribly with the novice hood. (I'm still low level so I don't have anything better. though I put the novice robes back on since they look better). You would think that when they design mage specific clothing that they would insure they wouldn't clip. But there it is!

Any advice on #1 would be appreciated.

For your first question, they will equip better equipment that you give them. They will also use staffs in their inventory and health potions. According to the strategy guide, Lydia is skilled in one-handed, heavy armor, archery and block.

She does have a hard time with following but I find that she catches up fairly quickly. If not, you can use the Wait feature to wait an hour and she should should catch up to you then.

Thanks. I wasn't sure if they automatically used the best gear in their inventory. She actually pulled out a bow that I did not see when I gave her some stuff. I will have to make and give her some health potions as well.

Do they gain in skills like a PC? I have her a battleaxe I got in whiterun and she uses it. Will she get better in 2h or should I give her 1h weapons instead?

svcks that she is often reluctant to make a 5 foot jump to follow me off of a rock ledge when it does no damage to me. But I guess I will have to work around this problem.