Some concrete possibilities of a complex basis for characterizing the quantum numbers of a 3-body system are examined in light of the observation that the S3 symmetry is more explicitly obeyed by the complex, rather than the real, representation. This shows up through a more transparent algebra of the underlying dynamical operators in their complex, but not real, forms, thus allowing the identification of an extra quantum number in this new basis. Possible physical applications of the new basis are briefly discussed at three distinct levels of compositeness, viz., nuclear, hadronic, and sub-hadronic, with respective constituents N (nucleon), q (quark), and r (preon/rishon).