How does the Push Weapon Mastery property interact with the Psi Warrior Fighter's Telekinetic Thrust?

Question

The 2024 Player's Handbook introduces Weapon Mastery as a set of additional combat options. Naturally, the newly revised fighter class comes with the ability to make use of Mastery properties right out of the box.

One of those Mastery properties is Push, which, on a hit, lets an attacker "push the [target] creature up to 10 feet straight away from yourself if it is Large or smaller." There is no save to avoid this forced movement; it is automatic at the attacker's option.

Meanwhile, the Psi Warrior fighter subclass gets a 7th-level combat option called Telekinetic Thrust, described as follows:

When you deal damage to a target with your Psionic Strike, you can force the target to make a Strength saving throw (DC 8 plus your Intelligence modifier and Proficiency Bonus). On a failed save, you can give the target the Prone condition or transport it up to 10 feet horizontally.

How does Push interact with Telekinetic Thrust? If a 7th-level Psi Warrior PC lands a hit with a weapon with the Push property -- e.g., a warhammer -- and opts to deal Psionic Strike damage, what happens?

At a minimum, it seems the PC should get to move the target 10 feet away automatically using Push and then move the target another 10 feet in any horizontal direction if the target fails a save against Telekinetic Thrust. That should be permissible insofar as a hit, which triggers Push, is determined before damage, which triggers Telekinetic Thrust. But is that the only permissible order of operations? Could the PC instead opt to apply Telekinetic Thrust first and then apply the Push? Conversely, does moving the target 10 feet away with Push somehow render the target incapable of being moved again via Telekinetic Thrust, or vice versa?

To the extent this issue hinges on whether hit and damage are simultaneous, I look with some confusion to this Q&A based on the 2014 rules, which asks that very question. Its current answers differ. The accepted answer argues no, but has a zero vote tally. An alternative, not-accepted answer arguing yes currently has a tally of 23. A third answer with a tally of 21 seems, if I'm reading it right, to argue yes and no. Do the new 2024 rules differ or provide greater clarity on this issue than the 2014 rules did?

Answer 1

You can do them in either order, because neither of them are predicated on the enemy being in any particular location, nor do they have tight timing restrictions: "If you hit a creature with this weapon" and "When you deal damage to a target with your Psionic Strike".

You have still hit someone with your warhammer after Psionic Striking them with it, and you have still dealt damage with your Psionic Strike after Pushing someone with the hammer that delivered that strike.

Answer 2

In your case Telekinetic thrust opens up with

When you deal damage to a target with your Psionic Strike, you can force the target to make a Strength saving throw

With the weapons mastery Push option

PUSH

If you hit a creature with this weapon, you can push the creature up to 10 feet straight away from yourself if it is Large or smaller.

Both are not automatic effects, you can choose not to use Weapon Mastery: Push or not to use Telekinetic Thrust. So, which one occurs is up to the player when they decide how to act as their character.

Rob's Note

If all you want to do is move your opponent 10 feet away, then you should use Weapon Mastery Push. If you want to knock your opponent Prone then you should pick Telekinetic Thrust. But then the target will get a save.

But be aware the push option of Telekinetic Thrust says transport away instead of push away. Given the typical genre depiction of telekinesis, this could mean the character is telekinetically grabbed and placed in a new location. This implies that any type of intervening trap or terrain that would impact a character moving across it wouldn't take effect. However, for this to be relevant, the Dungeon Master of the campaign will have to decide to interpret transport in this way.

Whether this is a desired thing depends on the circumstances of the encounter. But what this means is that if there is a lava pit behind the target, a weapon mastery push would cause the target to fall in. A telekinetic thrust means you have the option of putting the target on the other side of the lava pit for whatever reason seems good at the time.