You would be surprised of the layer effects and styles you can do with Illustrator. If you give it a shot I would warn you of a few things.
Avoid pantone to pantone gradients...they will neutralize in the middle. Pick most critical spot color (which you can adjust in the rip) and a process color cmyk (no control at the rip)
The best way we have found to pull this off is the topmost object is, for instance, a gradient. Process Blue C 100% opaque to Process Blue C 0% opaque.
Make a copy of you object...send to back...place gradient object over it. You're basically making the gradient work with 2 objects. (see attached image)
Another thing to avoid is using blending modes other than multiply and normal...I've had objects with "overlay" blend mode not render in the rip...stick with multiply and normal...screen may work, testing required.
People shy away from building these effects in Illy because of what I've shown in my screen capture, the problem with Photoshop only is no control to correct at rip. The way I've shown, albeit more work up front, gives you the ability to correct a build on the fly, at the rip. (Simply find your named color in Onyx and adjust it) This way only the "critical" spot color will shift for you...not everything else! It's beautiful!
Nice that you bring humility to your questions...it goes a LONG way on forums like this. Getting a new printer and software with projects in the hopper is a flipping nightmare! Been there...best of luck to ya!