Question for the experts- models+triggers

For once I'm not asking about an error message :D

I'm just starting to animate one of my new Pitlord models, and I was wondering about something. One of his spells is that he summons up a sort of floating obelisk, which is chained to him, and he sort of drags it around (but it floats). I have the mesh and all that finished, but I was curious how I would work it in game.
Here are my options, or the ones I've thought of so far. I don't know much about triggers so I don't know what my limits are regarding them.

1. use 'alternate' animations, and have the obelisks appear in the morph animation. But once summoned, they are permanent. The problem I see with this is that he needs to be the exact same unit after the morph, just with extra animations, and since he's a hero the new unit would need to have the same level. experience, and learned spells, etc. This may be able to be done with triggers, but as I said I dunno.

2. I looked at the crypt lord's spiked carapace spell, and how that works, because it's pretty much the same thing (cast the spell, something appears, and stays). It turns out that with that spell, the spikes are actually the model file for the ability, they aren't on the crypt lord model. So I could do it this way (Make the obelisks the ability model, not on the Pitlord), but with the spiked carapace the spikes don't really have their own animation, they're just attached to points of the crypt lord and follow his animation. Since the obelisks need to float, like up and down, and I was also planning on having them look like they're being pulled when the pitlord walks. And I also wanted to throw a couple ribbon emitters in the mix. So now the Obelisks have a bunch of their own animations, they aren't just attached and following the pit lords anims. I think it's possible to set up triggers like 'when pitlord plays walk animation - play obelisk walk animation' or something like that, but I don't know. and that sounds like an awful lot of work.

I'm just trying to figure out the easiest way to do this. And I have to know whether or not to keep the obelisks in the pitlord model and make twice as many animations or take them out, or what. So I'm going to hold off on animating him for now, untill I decide what to do.

If anybody has any other ideas besides the 2 I've thought of, by all means speak up. Like I said I don't know what I'm limited to here so any suggestions are welcome.

thx.

Use morph animations, they would fit much much better with what you're doing. And just use a edited version of the metamorphis (i thought i saw a way to do a permanent morph somewhere).

That way you can have the animations fitting. And animations don't take much space, and it's easy as you can almost just select all the bones and then CnP all the keys too later in the time-frame...piece of cake. (ofcourse adding in changes then)

Cubasis

hmm, ok then. So for the permanent morph the model remains the same (though I can leave out the morph-alternate anim) and the rest is done with triggers? It'd help alot if I had something to reference.

Anybody know of a permanent morph that somebody has used in the past that I could try and get my hands on for reference purposes?