D&D 5E Advice on 8th level ASI for Circle of Shepherd Druid stuck in Barovia

[tommybahama]

"Hello Optimancers"

I have a Circle of the Shepherd Druid in the Curse of Strahd campaign. I'm already thinking about my ASI at level 8 and I'm wondering if the Metamagic Adept feat from the 2020 UA Feats would be a good pick:

I was thinking the Subtle Spell Metamagic would prevent me from being counterspelled. I'm not sure what I'd choose for the second Metamagic option so I could use advice there.

I'm playing a variant human that took the Observant feat at level 1 and Warcaster feat at level 4.

Here are my stats:

Str 11
Dex 12
Con 16
Int 10
Wis 16
Cha 10

I'm not sure if a +1 to my Con or Wis is going to help as much as being able to cast spells that can't be sniped with Counterspell. Oh, and the only magic items I have is a Staff of Birdcalls that's only magic property is to make bird noises and a couple of scrolls with 1st level spells.

Any advice and other suggestions would be appreciated. The freedom of Barovia from Strahd the devil may depend on it...

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Are you getting counterspelled a lot? Personally I'd be boring and get the Wisdom score up with my next ASI so that my spells were less resisted and I got an extra one each day. Unless you have reason to believe you are going into multiple mage fights counterspelling probably isn't an important part of your future, and Druids have one of the best counterspell defenses there is, namely access to a couple of bonus action cantrips to fake the enemy into blowing their counterspell before you cast the real spell.

But, if your heart is set on being a Metamagic Adept, I would say the priority is metamagics that do something really unique since you, at most, get two a day. It won't become a regular part of your combat strategy like they are for a sorcerer.

You don't have enough points to use Heightened Spell even once and you don't have a Charisma bonus to power Empowered spell (which is pretty boring anyway) or protect more than one creature with Careful spell. Twin spell would only work on level 2 and below spells, so probably not worth it unless you've got a particular go to combo or two in mind. Distant spell is useful but also boring as a once or twice a day thing.

Counterspelling aside, Subtle spell is about the best choice for any Metamagic adept build, as it is the one that enables all sorts of creative, once-in-a-blue-moon shenanigans outside of combat. Extend spell is a good candidate but you've got to think about what particular spells you are using them with that is going to make it worthwhile. Since you are a summoner subclass it would probably be the best choice, if the duration of your summons is an issue in your play (if your DM always lets them still be going from the last combat already than maybe not so much). If you played the character up to 9th level magic doubling the duration of Foresight or Shapechange is about the most use you can get out of a single sorcery point. My other candidate would be Quickened Spell. Since this would burn both the sorcery points for the whole day in one go the trick here is to not conceptualize it as "I get to cast an extra cantrip in a round once a day" but rather as "once a day I can cast a spell and still have my main action to dash, dodge, wildshape, disengage, or use some other ability". Might save you in a pinch.

 

[BacchusNL]

I fully agree with Benjamin Olson. I also wouldn't take Subtle Spell for the counterspelling-aspect. I put it in the same box as Assasination Rogues tbh; Looks great on paper but has very few applications when you are actually playing. As he also mentioned; the applications of subtle spell in social aspects are a lot more varied, since a lot of GM's don't do stealth-arcana checks. That is still a pretty narrow choice for a feat though.

I also think +2 wisdom will never serve you wrong, although if you keep up a lot of summoning spells and Faerie Fires (like a good Optimancer should ;P) then Warcaster could also serve you very well. You are much more likely to get a spell interupted by having your concentration broken then by getting it counterspelled, plus as a druid you have many high-value concentration spells (and a shepard druid is atleast for some part less wisdom-depandant if you focus on summoning). You also get the option for shennenigans like attacks of opportunity with Thorn Whip and pulling enemies back. And I don't know how strickt your GM is with the somatic components and how many hands you have free but it could also give you a straight-up 2 ac on top, if this allows you to wear a shield and cast spells at the same time while holding a shillelagh.