Is there a way to transfer a face from an NPC to my character, or make it as a preset on character creation?

There's always http://www.creationkit.com/MatchFaceGeometry.

I didn't think MatchFaceGeometry still worked (if it ever did). There's an easy way to http://j-u-i-c-e.hubpages.com/_esforum/hub/How-to-Make-Your-Skyrim-Character-Look-Like-Any-Character-in-the-Game. The short version is: duplicate the NPC in the Creation Kit and drag the duplicate into the list of presets for that race.

I also have a http://www.truancyfactory.com/mods/skyrim/skyrim_characters.html which you can use in http://j-u-i-c-e.hubpages.com/_esforum/hub/How-to-Change-Your-Characters-Appearance-and-Name-in-Skyrim to change your character's appearance. [Edit: Or you can just download the plugin/save and use that.]