Hi escottdesigner,
This is a very general question, without a single piece of detailed information (i.e., no project file). If you can’t upload here, please use DropBox, Amazon, Adobe, Apple or Google cloud services, I won’t open any other source, thank.
One could fill a book about it and might not catch even all the essential information needed.
The main idea must come from the way these things can interact with each other. You can perhaps use the joints as information or attach the extra parts via Constraint Tag.
https://help.maxon.net/us/index.html#TCACONSTRAINT
If you have no extra joints for the secondary parts, you might weight them to a single joint, which might look very artificial, to extent the Joint rig might be a way to go.
If you want to use the Character object, you might enjoy the series about creating your own templates
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaytut/creating_a_custom_template_part_01
Yes, that goes deep, but your question is not a beginner question either, right?
Speaking of complex, Bret discusses here a character that might show the many details you might have in mind:
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaylist/character_rigging_techniques_siggraph_2015_rewind/
Your question about weighting, if that was meant manually:
https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaytut/siggraph_2015_rewind_bret_bays_weighting_workflows_for_cinema_4d_character
I have no information about your background, so it is hard to say anything, without going very broad. From my point of view, Character animation is either completely underestimated or seen as too difficult. What I can say with certainty is that it is a job in its own rights and needs a while before someone is fluent in it. On the other side, the Character object allows us to rig a human mesh in minutes, and that might lead to the impression that things are always that simple. I don’t want to give that impression at all. However, it is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding techniques, once it is mastered.
If you have any further questions, please open for each question a new thread, please, with a project file, if it is possible. Screen-shots are not really useful in pretty much any case. A scene file works or not, images are up for interpretations.
Use the search function in the right upper corner of this forum, to find perhaps what you need.
Enjoy the material I have shared above.
Have a great weekend
