Question about the Polearm Master Feat. The first bullet point says (PHB, p. 168, bold added):
- When you take the Attack action and attack with only a glaive, halberd, or quarterstaff, you can use a bonus action to make a melee attack with the opposite end of the weapon.
Imagine you are a 5th level fighter with this Feat, and you take the Attack Action while wielding a quarterstaff:
- First attack: used to Shove your opponent
- Second attack (from Extra Attack): attack with your quarterstaff
Could you then get the bonus action attack? I'm not sure if the "only" in Polearm Master's text would preclude this or not (it's unclear if it mean you can't attack with other weapons, or that you can't take any actions other than polearm attacks.)
NOTE: This question is further complicated by the fact that it's ambiguous whether or not you can shove with your quarterstaff (since Shove does not require a free hand, and a target must be "within your reach" [PHB, p. 195]). And before an answer comes along saying otherwise, a Shove is an attack, since the rules say
you can make a special melee attack to shove a creature… If you’re able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces
one of them. (PHB, p. 195, bold added)
And Jeremy Crawford has stated "Is something an attack? Yes, if… the rules expressly call it an attack."
Best Answer
The restrictions for using the Feat are clear:
The first bullet is easy-go: yes, you took the Attack action. The second bullet is probably a no, since you have attacked (as Shove is "a special melee attack") with something else that does not involve your quarterstaff (per Crawford below).
In a similar question, which asked
Crawford answered
This means that both your interpretations in the "only" part lead to the same thing.
You are both "attacking with other weapons (where the other weapon is, probably, your body)" and "taking other (than polearm attacks) action".
1 My interpretation from that is that No, you don't use your quarterstaff for the shove action. The reasoning for that is that if it does not involve an attack with a weapon, it either does not involve an attack (which is false, since it does) or does not involve a weapon (which is the only possible solution). It doesn't require a free hand because you can use your body, you don't need to push the person with your hands.