Does the shove action require a melee attack first and then the contested str/athletics roll, or is it simply a str/athletics contest.
If I am using polearm master feat can I Shove, then use the bonus action to attack, or is the shove a non-weapon attack and I can't use the Bonus action.
rpascuttini wrote:
It's interesting that Shove doesn't really say whether it uses a weapon or not. It comes up too in whether a glaive-wielder could shove a creature who was 10 ft away. I would say yes, that it does use your weapon, but I guess I'd check with my DM before assuming how it worked.
The rules get a littly squirrely when you combine them.
Grapple doesn't say it uses a weapon
Reach weapons only increase your range when you are attacking *with that* weapon
PAM gives a bonus attack when you attack with *only* the listed weapons...
So... if Grapple doesn't use a weapon, then you don't get the extra range nor the bonus attack
But...if Grappes does use the weapon, then you might get the extra range and would get the bonus attack.
I would rule that it does not get the extra range, but does get the bonus attack.
If anything, I'd have said Grapple specifies that it doesn't use a weapon, since it requires a free hand.
But of course Shove doesn't say anything like that, and seems more ambiguous.
Sorry, I meant to write "shove" and for whatever reason wrote "grapple"...repeatedly... 
Shove is a special melee attack (page 195, "Using the Attack action, you can make a speical melee attack to shove a creature,…").
Since the Polearm Master feat says "When you take the Attack Action…" then you can Shove and strike with the polearm butt, in whichever order you want.
Greenstone.Walker wrote:
After level 5, it's a moot point for most martial classes, since they get Extra Attack.
When you take the Shove action or the Grapple action, it uses one of your attacks from the Attack action. So, shove with the first, attack with the second, and get your bonus action PAM attack.
You only get the PAM attack if you attack only with a polesrm during the whole action. So if the shove isn't with the polearm its no go.
Undrhil wrote: