I've restarted a game of Oblivion, and when escorting Martin and Jauffre from Weynon Priory, noticed I now actually have 2 essential (knocked unconscious instead of dieing) followers.
I added the two Jermaine brothers and now have 4 essential followers – raiding oblivion towers has never been more fun.
So I started wondering – what would be the best party one could assemble this way? Can I teach them spells (tomes) or give them better weapons? Can they hold stuff for me (like in Skyrim) or do things?
Best Answer
This page on the oblivion wiki has a lot of your answers, including a list of all possible followers that you can get (even quest related ones). Keep in mind that for many of these characters, if they die their quest will fail, so its up to you to decide if you prefer a follower or the quest reward.
It also addresses the issues of equipping your followers and managing them:
If you want to teach followers spells, the only way to do so is through the console.