If it's characters you want, DeePSea, XWE and Wintex will probably work.
Level-editing? WadAuthor is what has the tutorial, but I find DoomBuilder better, particularly if you have my edited config that keeps map headers (at the cost of a few extra seconds of node-building, but it's a fair payoff). It's more idiot-proof (not to imply anything, mind), making deleting lindefs much easier. And less corrupting.
Oh, and character making ALWAYS takes a long time. The editors won't change that.