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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DND_Reborn" data-source="post: 7575270" data-attributes="member: 6987520">Okay, so I am about to go to bed and I will make one final attempt to clarify this so Asgorath isn't doing all the work (good job, btw!). From tweets posted by JC and others on May 11, 2018:#1. Jonathan EllisWhat was it supposed to be? How is using a bonus action to knock someone prone and then attack cheesy?#2. Jeremy CrawfordIt's supposed to be what it is: a way to knock someone prone after your attack. It's essentially a finishing move.Please note two things in JC's reponse to Mr Ellis's questions.1. "a way to knock someone prone after your attack." Not after your Attack action, after your attack. If you have not attacked, you have not satisfied the condition. Taking the Attack action means you are attacking. Until you have resolved the attack, you are not "after" it.2. "It's essentially a finishing move." A finishing move. Not a in-the-middle-of-my-attacks move, finishing move.A later tweet also from May 11, 2018:#3. Jeremy CrawfordIf taking the Attack action is the condition for something else happening, you must take that action before the other thing can happen, unless the rules state otherwise. The action as a whole is the condition.We all agree (I believe) with the interpretation of the first part, "If taking the Attack action is the condition for something else happening, you must take that action before the other thing can happen, unless the rules state otherwise." The rule for Shield Master is "If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to try to shove a creature..." We all agree you must take the Attack action in order to gain the benefit of the bonus action--there is no doubt about that.Now, the case is being argued that you are taking the Attack action, just not making your attacks yet. This is the point where we deviate so I will continue with the next sentence:"The action as a whole is the condition."Since the action as a whole is the condition, you must take it in its entirety, not piece by piece, in order to satisfy the condition. Trying to take it piece-by-piece as some have reasoned violates that "The action as a whole is the condition." ruling. Therefore, you cannot: take the Attack action, bonus action Shove, attack. If you try to do so, you are not taking the action as a whole,  which is the condition, thus denying yourself the Bonus action with which to Shove.Therefore you must do the following:1. Take the Attack action since that is required for the Bonus action as its condition. (No arguments here.)2. Since the action as a whole is the condition, you must take it and complete it, not break it apart, before you have satisfied the condition.Once you take the Attack action as a whole (that's the condition from #3 above), you then gain the benefit of the bonus action to Shove. If you don't take the Attack action as a whole, you don't get the bonus action to Shove.You don't agree with JC's rulings, fine, as always it is up to the DM and the table to play how they see fit. If you do so, however, hopefully you will now understand why it is against the official rules and a house-rule. I don't see why anyone has an issue with that, since many of us play with at least some house-rules, after all.Good night! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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