In our next campaign I want to play a Hexblade - Vengeance Paladin multiclass.
The campaign will eventually reach the high levels. I want my final level split to be 14 levels in Hexblade and 6 in Paladin. I want to play this, both so that we don't die all the time, and for story reasons. I can post the backstory later, if that is helpful.

I want my character to be the tank for our group, so I want to use heavy armor, and a shield with a longsword. However, I have noticed, that I can not really cast spells this way. With the holy symbol and improved pact weapon, I can ignore material components eventually, although a bit late for my taste.
What worries me more are the somatic components of spells. Many of the spells I want to use, such as hold person, mirror image and shadow of moil require somatic components.
I want my character to be a half elf, so I want to take elven accuracy at level 4. My next feat would be at level 10. At that point, I can take the War Caster feat. That is very late though.

Is there any way to cast spells with somatic components for me, without using War Caster, or do I have to give up my shield?
How would you build the character?

In our next campaign I want to play a Hexblade - Vengeance Paladin multiclass.
The campaign will eventually reach the high levels. I want my final level split to be 14 levels in Hexblade and 6 in Paladin. I want to play this, both so that we don't die all the time, and for story reasons. I can post the backstory later, if that is helpful.

I want my character to be the tank for our group, so I want to use heavy armor, and a shield with a longsword. However, I have noticed, that I can not really cast spells this way. With the holy symbol and the Improved Pact Weapon invocation, I can ignore material components eventually, although a bit late for my taste.

What worries me more are the somatic components of spells. Many of the spells I want to use, such as hold person, mirror image, and shadow of moil require somatic components.

I want my character to be a half elf, so I want to take the Elven Accuracy feat at level 4. My next feat would be at level 10. At that point, I can take the War Caster feat. That is very late though.

Is there any way to cast spells with somatic components for me, without using War Caster, or do I have to give up my shield?

In our next campaign I want to play a Hexblade - Vengeance Paladin multiclass.
The campaign will eventually reach the high levels. I want my final level split to be 14 levels in Hexblade and 6 in Paladin. I want to play this, both so that we don't die all the time, and for story reasons. I can post the backstory later, if that is helpful.

I want my character to be the tank for our group, so I want to use heavy armor, and a shield with a longsword. However, I have noticed, that I can not really cast spells this way. With the holy symbol and improved pact weapon, I can ignore material components eventually, although a bit late for my taste.
What worries me more are the somatic components of spells. Many of the spells I want to use, such as hold person, mirror image and shadow of moil require somatic components.
I want my character to be a half elf, so I want to take elven accuracy at level 4. My next feat would be at level 10. At that point, I can take the warcaster feat. That is very late though.

Is there any way to cast spells with somatic components for me, without using warcaster, or do I have to give up my shield?
How would you build the character?

In our next campaign I want to play a Hexblade - Vengeance Paladin multiclass.
The campaign will eventually reach the high levels. I want my final level split to be 14 levels in Hexblade and 6 in Paladin. I want to play this, both so that we don't die all the time, and for story reasons. I can post the backstory later, if that is helpful.

I want my character to be the tank for our group, so I want to use heavy armor, and a shield with a longsword. However, I have noticed, that I can not really cast spells this way. With the holy symbol and improved pact weapon, I can ignore material components eventually, although a bit late for my taste.
What worries me more are the somatic components of spells. Many of the spells I want to use, such as hold person, mirror image and shadow of moil require somatic components.
I want my character to be a half elf, so I want to take elven accuracy at level 4. My next feat would be at level 10. At that point, I can take the War Caster feat. That is very late though.

Is there any way to cast spells with somatic components for me, without using War Caster, or do I have to give up my shield?
How would you build the character?