[OB] Do Oblivion NPCs not benefit from magic items?

[syscrusher]

I've created a boss-level NPC for Oblivion who has magical armor appropriate to her level. When I fight her in testing, she's wearing the armor but dies way too easily. RefScope shows no indication that she gains any magical effect from the armor. Is this normal? Do I need to create a custom "ability" spell to mimic the armor's intended effect?

Similarly, although this NPC carries a magic weapon with a timed damage effect (that is, N points for M seconds), the magic doesn't affect even my first-level, unprotected test character. Any ideas what's wrong?

Edited October 27, 2012 by syscrusher

[syscrusher]

Update: The apparel and armor part of this is fixed. It turns out I just needed a fresh test character, because of course my NPC is a persistent reference.

The magic weapon, however, appears to still not be working.