[RPG] Can the Telekinetic feat from Tasha’s be used to shove an object 5 feet

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RAW, the feat clearly states "you can try to telekinetically shove one creature," and we know there are no size limitations. You could attempt to shove a giant or a dragon.

RAI — is there some reason it would be game-breaking to extend this to objects that aren't nailed down (like STR-based Push/Drag), or to try breaking down doors? Better yet, is there a general rule about the equivalence of moving creatures and objects I might be missing that would apply here? If your Telekinetic DC is 15, that's about the average roll of a STR 20 character, and it feels like an oversight that you can shove massive beasts but you can't shove a rusty bucket.

EDIT to illustrate the counterintuitive nature of the RAW text: Let's say you're behind bars in a jail cell and the guard with a key ring on his belt is 10 feet away. With Telekinetic, you could pull him 5 feet toward you and then attempt to snatch the keys. But if you kill the guard with a ranged attack and his corpse drops to the ground, suddenly Telekinetic no longer applies? Let's stipulate that Mage Hand is useless here because it's not strong enough to yank the keys off (maybe you could use it to remove the guard's belt, but that's not really the point of this thought experiment). Or you could say the key is chained to a table. You can pull the 200-lb guard's entire (living) body at a rate of 5'/round, but you can't pull a 50-lb table?

Best Answer

That's what mage hand is for.

You cannot use the third point of the Telekinetic feat to shove objects, only creatures:

As a bonus action, you can try to telekinetically shove one creature.

But Tasha did not leave you hanging, the second bullet point of the feat gives you access to the spell mage hand, castable without components, which is perfect for shoving and carrying objects with your mind:

You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it.

This is significantly better for interacting with objects than a measly 5 foot shove.

A common houserule permits this sort of thing.

In my experience, many DMs permit spells and abilities that, as written, only target creatures, to also target objects. There probably wouldn't be anything unbalancing about permitting this.

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