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Not sure is this right place but anyway. Suppose you would have to design 3d-model for your typical fantasy character. It should be relatively easy to switch outlook of character dependant on what he wears. Ie plate mail would look different to ring mail and basic clothing.

Now question is. How much of that is done via polygons(note we aren't talking about photorealism here but one designed for games) and how much via textures? Specifically is it possible to create torso, arm, legs etc so that by switching texture it would look like plate mail warrior rather than one in basic clothes.

Some aspects I can forsee being impossible to do with textures only(bare head vs helmet vs big hats) but is only choise to have different models for each type of armour and one for reqular clothes(I assume textures could be used to switch between different types of clothes atleast).

Hmm, not quite sure, but I can speculate. There are many ways of doing anything in 3D. This makes it quite difficult in trying to decide which one you should go with, especially when there are a lot of pro's and con's to weigh.

I think I remember reading on the DBP board a long time ago that you can in fact import different limbs and weld the vertices together on the mesh. But this sounds like a pain the butt.

I would try and strike a balance between design and development. I think making one template character and changing all the clothes on it limits the possibilities, especially for things like armor and what not. But I also think making a different mesh altogether is a waste of time.

The file size for geometry and animation is actually very small. What kills you is the textures. Where you can cut corners is to have multiple texture sheets per mesh/configuration. Let's say for example that a few configurations will be using the same mesh, but change armor colors or something. Have the mesh character texture sheet independent from the metal texture sheet. That way your not needlessly taking up space with textures your already have made.

Hopefully that helps a bit

EDIT: Take a look through http://shop.3dtotal.com/index.php?cPath=28_31

The armor is actually a separate mesh than the character. That's how you'd want to do it.