Noob in need of assistance with a Revenant Gloomblade build

[Volfogg]

Hi All,

Well it's happened, I have been invited to play in a 4e game, and I am now struggling to create a character. There's a ton of material and some of it seems a tad .... confusing. Nonetheless, in my attempt to familiarize myself with the system I have read through a number of the books as well as skimmed many others. As of yet I am not sure what exactly I will be playing so in an effort to further help my understanding of the game as well as the mechanics I will be creating one of each type of character: defender, striker, controller and leader. Once I am done with the overall build I will post it here for additional help/insight. So, without further ado I present to you my first build: a revenant gloom pact hexblade:

Caveats:
1) all books allowed
2) he has changed the gloom pact weapon to be a +2/1d12 sword (although all the powers etc are the same)
3) we will be playing mostly heroic with a chance of continuing into paragon

Revenant Gloomblade
Pastlife human
18 dex 18 cha 12 str 13 con 14 wis 12 int (stats are rolled with the 4d6 drop the lowest method, racial bonuses = +2 dex/cha)

Feats
1. Past Life (human)
2. Rod Expertise
4. Deadly Draw
6. Superior Implement Training(Deathbone Rod)
8. Implement Focus (Rod)
10. ???

Powers
L1: Racial - Dark Reaping, AW - Eldritch Bolt, D1 - Armor of Winters Grasp, AW - Flesh Rend, E - Spirit Flay, Pact Weapon(Blade of Exquisite Pain), Pact Reward, Pact Boon (Convocation of Shadows)
L2: U2 - Spectral Fade or Shadow Veil or Wrathful Aspect
L3: Improved Pact Weapon
L4: Lesser Planar Ally
L5: D5 - Tentacles of Cryonax
L6: U6 - Dark Ones Own Luck
L7: Pact Weapon Retribution (Shadow Scourge)
L8: na
L9: Summon Warlock's Ally(Dark Creeper)
L10: U10 - Ethereal Sidestep or Shielding Shades or Curse of Nessus
  * italized powers are class features.
  AW = At Will, E = Encounter, D = Daily, U = Utility

As you can see I have tried to select all of my powers and feats. Although I really need some help in this area. There are just so damn many feats and powers that its a daunting task to go through everything to find which feats work best with what I want (which is an uber melee striker. ;p). Lastly, I need some assistance choosing the extra power granted by the past life feat.

Something else has been bothering me as well ... do the bonuses from heavy blade expertise as well as rod expertise stack when you summon your pact weapon?

Please let me know if there is anything else that can make this better! I appreciate any and all input/thoughts/suggestions.

Cheers
Volf

[awaken_D_M_golem]

You'll have better action at wotc ,
especially for detailed stuff like this.

That said, "mellored" has the
Unkillable Revenant guide.
Even if you've never played 4e
before, booting up one of those
= easy way to learn the game
without while dying all the time.
Then mixing back in what you
want to do with Gloomblade, works.

idk what else.

[Volfogg]

You'll have better action at wotc ,
especially for detailed stuff like this.

That said, "mellored" has the
Unkillable Revenant guide.
Even if you've never played 4e
before, booting up one of those
= easy way to learn the game
without while dying all the time.
Then mixing back in what you
want to do with Gloomblade, works.

idk what else.

Thanks for the suggestion awaken_D_M_golem! I posted my build on a few different forums for feedback.

Cheers
Volf