How can I use TWF on a dex-based character who casts spells?

Question

I have a character who wants to:

• Use two-weapon fighting
• Use their dexterity bonus, not their strength bonus, to attack
• Cast spells with somatic components

I'm having trouble finding a way to accomplish all of these:

• If I use two weapons, I have to drop or sheathe one of them to free up a hand for spellcasting.
• If I use a quarterstaff, I can't use weapon finesse.
• I don't have the spare class levels to be a Daggerspell Mage.

How can I accomplish these goals simultaneously? Are there double weapons that are compatible with weapon finesse? Can I use two-weapon fighting with weapons that don't take up a hand, like armor spikes? Are there quick draw shenanigans I can pull off to sheathe and redraw my weapons when I want to cast spells (without using up too many actions)? Something else I haven't thought of?

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The character is a Telflammar Shadowlord-based multipouncer, focused on getting multiple full attacks per round by using a variety of teleportation methods, including spells, Shadow Hand maneuvers, and Abrupt Jaunt. The class split is something like:

• Rogue 1/Wizard 2/Fighter 1/Crusader 1/Unseen Seer 2/Jade Phoenix Mage 4/Telflammar Shadowlord 4/Jade Phoenix Mage +5

...though there's some flexibility there, as long as the core abilities of the character concept are retained.

Answer 1

The Somatic Weaponry feat from Complete Mage page 47 allows you to perform the Somatic Components of a spell with your weapons instead of with your fingers.

Answer 2

The easiest way I can think of to do this by RAW is to use a Glove of Storing (Dungeon Master's Guide p.257). This allows you to magically store and retrieve any one item of less than 20 pounds and that can be held in one hand in the glove as a free action. Though it's not the cheapest solution at 10,000gp. It's worth noting that even though this is only one glove it takes up your whole hands slot. Using the Magic Item Compendium rules on combining magic items you could add the ability to an existing set of gloves if you have the gold. You could even have a pair of them if you're willing to pay the double cost for the second glove to make it slotless.

The better choice is the Glove of the Master Strategist (Ghostwalk p.71). It works exactly like a Glove of Storing plus grants 1/day True Strike at the price of 3,600gp. Ghostwalk is 3.0 but errata updated it to 3.5 and left the price of the glove alone, so it's much better. The Glove of Storing is overpriced anyway. It just depends on if your DM will allow Ghostwalk.

Answer 3

Kuro_Neko already named the Glove of the Master Strategist, which is a good choice but uses up a body slot and is subject tu unwritten limitations since the DM is free to decide how many free actions per round are verosimile.

Emil named the Somatic Weaponry feat, which is good but still needs you to find a way to manipulate material components. While material components are practical jokes and many DMs just ignore them, I feel like the rest of the magis system has been balanced around them, so I wouldn't touch those. Also, I'd rather not spend a feat here.

I suggest, if you cast from the Cleric, Druid or Wizard/Sorcerer list, the long-lasting Girallon's Blessing spell (Spell Compendium), which gives you two extra hands. Use the extra hands for additional armed or claw attacks (for some weird reason, this must be the same for all arms), for holding a shield or a rod and, by all means, to provide somatic and material components for your spells if that's what you need.