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Given the rulings found here and here:

As with most bonus actions, you choose the timing, so the Shield Master shove can come before or after the Attack action. - Crawford

If you have the Shield Master feat, what would happen if you shoved a creature using your bonus action from the feat, and then had no movement left and so could not reach it to perform the Attack action?

Would you simply forfeit your action entirely, or, worst case scenario, would you have to use it against yourself?

Exempt-Medic
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    Given the tweet you've linked, it's not clear what you're asking. Crawford's tweet contradicts some of his previous rulings regarding Shield Master (for instance); his recent tweets state/restate that you can't use the shove from the Shield Master feat until after you finish your Attack action. You seem to be aware it contradicts his prior rulings (i.e. the ones mentioned in those other questions/answers you linked), so the premise of your question seems to be faulty. – V2Blast May 12 '18 at 01:37
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    ...It looks like you edited in the link an hour ago, though you asked the question yesterday. In that case, you might want to answer your own question and move the linked tweet into the answer, pointing out that the premise of your question is now impossible if that ruling is obeyed - per the ruling, you can't use the bonus action until you've taken the action. – V2Blast May 12 '18 at 01:41
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    It would also be helpful to quote the tweets in the question, to guard against link decay and make it easier for answerers to see what the issue is. – keithcurtis May 12 '18 at 06:05

2 Answers2

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You must execute the Attack action

Since you have already used the Attack action for this turn, you cannot choose to do something else with that action. You must attack.

You could attack the creature in a different way

Since the creature is out of range, you could not make a melee attack, but you could make other attacks that qualify (such as a ranged attack using your weapon as an improvised thrown weapon).

Or just attack the empty space in front of you

The Attack action reads...

Pick a target within your attack’s range: a creature, an object, or a location.

You could simply target the location in front of you rather than attacking yourself if you have no other attack options that you want to perform.

David Coffron
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You may not do this, the premise is flawed

Crawford has since taken back his previous ruling on Shield Master, [here] and so this scenario is no longer even possible.

Old Ruling:

As with most bonus actions, you choose the timing, so the Shield Master shove can come before or after the Attack action. -Crawford

New Ruling:

Clarification about bonus actions: if a feature says you can do X as a bonus action if you do Y, you must do Y before you can do X. For Shield Master, that means the bonus action must come after the Attack action. You decide when it happens afterward that turn. -Crawford

Exempt-Medic
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  • This is a good example of why to be careful with Crawford tweets. Despite their "official" status, they have yet not been etched in the stone of the Sage Advice Compendium. – keithcurtis May 13 '18 at 17:56
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    Even Sage Advice has flip-flopped on rulings, all we ever have is the most recent version – Exempt-Medic May 13 '18 at 17:57
  • I don't doubt you in the slightest, but do you have an example of a Sage Advice reversal? I don't typically compare versions over time, or review areas I think have been settled, so it would be handy info. – keithcurtis May 13 '18 at 20:15
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    They have changed rulings on things such as an Elf's Trance, when a previous ruling made it incorrect. See Pg 2 under "Racial Traits" here – Exempt-Medic May 13 '18 at 21:26
  • Ah yes, I remember the hullabaloo. Thanks. – keithcurtis May 14 '18 at 01:20
  • This answer can be improved by including specifically what's not allowed: using bonus action to shove first, then attack. Then mention the sequence of actions should be: Action Attack (and finish all extra attacks), then bonus action shove. – Vylix May 14 '18 at 04:27
  • @Vylix I believe you can break up extra attack with a bonus action, as you can break it up with movement. – Exempt-Medic May 14 '18 at 05:59
  • @Medix2: You can not do a bonus action (EDIT: if it's contingent on "the Attack action") in the middle of an Attack action or similar; Crawford clarifies this here: "No general rule allows you to insert a bonus action between attacks in a single action. You can interrupt a multiple-attack action with a bonus action/reaction only if the trigger of the bonus action/reaction is an attack, rather than the action." (EDIT: If it has no trigger or is contingent simply on "an attack", the bonus action can interrupt the Attack action.) – V2Blast May 18 '18 at 07:16
  • Also: the Elf Trance thing was not really "flip-flopping on rulings"; in that case, the rules themselves changed. Crawford changed his ruling on whether the 4-hour elf trance met the requirements for a long rest because the definition of a long rest changed. – V2Blast May 18 '18 at 07:18
  • For anyone interested, my answer to the linked question provides a more detailed overview on the history of Crawford's Shield Master rulings. – V2Blast Sep 09 '20 at 02:53