Mage's Little Helper: looking for feedback
Basically I have an idea for a character where they were a wizard's familiar, transmuted in some way to turn them into a full-fledged adventurer that is now out in the world with their own little group of adventurers. To highlight this character concept (and because I think it would be mechanically interesting), I want to build them around being a sort of ideal, mostly martial support for one or more full casters, someone designed to make their spells as potent as possible and work in concert with their abilities. To do this, I'm going to run down a list of desirable features and traits that I think fit this idea well, then give more info on the campaign we will be playing in and present the build as I have it so far. I'd love any feedback on the build itself and/or on things you think the casters would want their helper to be able to do.
Desirable abilities:
- Able to identify enemy vulnerabilities, resistances, and immunities quickly, especially condition immunities.
- Able to consistently debuff enemy saving throws.
- The Alert feat and a high Initiative bonus.
- Good at grappling with a high movement speed.
- Good single target damage.
- A way to burn enemy Legendary Resistances.
- ???
Campaign info:
- West Marches game with mostly random party compositions and a variety of DM's.
- Character will be played from levels 3-16, with party members in the same ranges.
- Magic items are obtainable, but getting anything above an uncommon will take a lot of time.
- Only player options allowed are from the 2024 core rules and first party materials published since then (like the Faerûn books, Forge of the Artificer, Astarion's Book of Hungers, etc.)
- No custom backgrounds.
- Point buy stats.
The build draft I have so far:
- Hunter Ranger 4 / Elements Monk 12
- Criminal background for Alert, +2 DEX, and +1 CON
- STR 8 | DEX 17 | CON 16 | INT 8 | WIS 15 | CHA 8
- Feats: Cold Caster, Grappler, Fairy Trickster, ??? (something that gives DEX +1)
- Species: ??? (Probably going to go Aasimar for flavor reasons and access to temporary flight at lower levels, but I acknowledge this is a bad choice)
- Handaxe and Dagger masteries, Two Weapon Fighting style, Colossus Slayer
- Proficient in Insight, Perception (Expert), Slight of Hand, Stealth, Survival
- Spells: Hunter's Mark, Goodberry, Jump, Longstrider, Speak with Animals
- Magic items: Weapon of Returning x2, Wraps of Unarmed Power, Cloak of Protection, Mind Sharpener, Bracers of Defense