Multiple Texture spaces on characters.

What I would like to do for my project is to have different parts of the bodies of my characters individually skinnable. I'd like the players to be able to equip different types of armour, as well as potentially having tatoos in areas that remain bare. Additionally, I'd like to have different colours depending on which team the player plays on.

I'm familiar with the concept of multi-texturing (I own Edward M.'s GPGT) however that affects the entire object. The work-around with that I figured I could make each part of the mesh a separate entity and then mount them. However, the problem I came across there was that my joints would wind up being spread across multiple files, making it difficult to animate. Because my game features several racese with different body types, this is unfeasable. (I can't be certain that I will be able to use the same animations for each race, as the body types are different enough that I can't be sure they will port over properly even with the same skeleton.)

The GPGT touches on IFLs, but does not go into sufficient detail. I understand that IFLs require the use of animation slots. How many animation slots are there? 8? If so then I'll likely run into a similar problem with that option, as I will need to have more skinnable areas than that.

Based on my current design objective I would like to have about 10 areas for tatoos (which also corresponds to most places ofr armour, etc) and then about 5 more areas for armour (3 more if I combine hands and feet into the same skin, which makes good sence.)

I am not well-versed in using C++ so modifying the engine itself is not practical for me. I have made some small adjustments like incorporating the SQLite resource I found on this site as well as making a change to allow me to run multiple copies of Torque on the same computer (one for the client, one for the login server and one for the mission server to test things properly.) These were simple changes, but I fear something more complex would confuse me.

I know that I have seen this done in other Torque Projects. Minions of Mirth comes to mind, as does MyDreamRPG which, unfortunatly, stopped being available for sale two days before I purchased Torque (doh!).

(Because I know from my time in this and other game development forums that MMO development is looked down upon, I'm going to be very clear here that I am NOT making an MMO. I am creating a PvP battle arena with a fantasy style theme that has many elements of an mmo, but is not an mmo in and of itself.)

I do hope this is the right place for this question, this is the first time I've asked for help (I'm usually self-sufficient and like to find the answer for myself, but I just couldn't.)

Thanks for your help.

EDITED TO ADD: I am using Torque 1.5