The only other alternative I can think of is Reallusion's Character Creator 4 (it's pricier than DS and Poser, and you'd also need iClone for animation). Not as pricey as C4D, but you may want to research it a little as an alternative.

They are having a sale till end of month. Might be a good time to check out any bundles that include Character Creator 4, iClone, and perhaps the Headshot plugin so you can generate faces from photos)