Yes Fimbul, there are certain situations that you can't avoid. Which is fine.
But lets say you have a character who jumps, spins, and then lands. I would not animate his spin in a sheet. That would give you approximately 9 to 14 more images then needed. Just create one image of the character rolled up. Then when it's time for him to spin, clip that frame and do it by code. You just save your sprite sheet from being larger then needed. And also achieved a better frame rate of your spin. Instead of only getting maybe 10 fps on the spin.
As for an actor with a large sword. Let's say you create his right arm in its own sprite sheet with sword. And the character in it's own sprite sheet. You just saved your self a bunch of dead space in your single sprite sheet and you have more animating and rotation options with the arm and sword sheet.
Anyway, just trying to help. Not trying to start anything here. ;)