Hey...
Two things...
1.) If you fire up the manual and do a search for "attach bones" you will find all the info that you need to do it in MED.
2.) You are best off using a "Biped" structure in 3dsMax but you then have to figure out how to export and import your files as .fbx and, Max is pretty tough going...
-Why would you want to use 3dsMax?
Because in the future you can then use the same model but you can then use Motion Body Capture data (MOCAP). Then you will get to the point
where your avatar has very life like body motions. The down side is that 3dsMax is very costly... That is, unless you get sort of creative...