Better to just use CSS without shortcodes breaking up words in your content.
Are there any sensible, semantically valid dropcap plugins? Last I checked there were not, so I wrote my own. The key is just using CSS most of the time to target first letters in selected content sections.
Sorry, no. It’s a plugin I made for a client. I had plans to release it at wp.org, but I may not get to it before it becomes obsolete. (Assuming Gutenberg handles dropcaps and/or forces there to be major changes in how content plugins work.)