Hey you don't need to convert to subdivision if you were to animate. I think it's really only good for modeling because subdivision is basically just a preview of how your poly model would look smoothed. It's best to rig your character starting with a low poly version so that it would save you a lot of time and frustration, plus it won't slow down your computer so bad.
When doing the low poly rigging, you should also smooth proxy it so that you can preview how your character would look smoothed when you move it around.

That's just my 2 cents.