Yes ZBrush uses millions and maybe billions of polygons, but that is for sculpting only.  Once your sculpting is complete you then do "re-topology" to create a working production mesh that can be of ANY polygon depth you require.  Then, using normal mapping, your low poly character can appear to have all those millions of polys that you sculpted with earlier.  ZBrush also has TONS of other tools for character creation.

An alternative is Mudbox, which is under the Autodesk name, just like 3DS MAX.

Also,  3DCoat is getting more and more attention,

I like using Silo2, but it's somewhat limited and development seems to have come to a stand still....  ( I'm sad)

Good luck