Forced Movement Direction and Other Topics?

When it comes to forced movement and pushing / pulling - Is the definition of "away from" simply more squares away from the player while "straight away from" is in a strait line from the center of the character square through the enemy in a straight line?

For example, in the diagram below can a character C push enemy E1 towards A1 (if text says "straight away from"), as well as towards A4, D1, or G1 (if text says "away from")?

What if some stacked forced movement says "away from" and some says "straight away from" (can you do these movements sequentially in any order you want)?

Can you stack a push and a pull effect to push then pull or pull then push?

If a character is bigger than medium are these movements calculated from the center of their squares or from one of their edge squares (left side assumes that "straight away from" is calculated from center of large character and right side assumes that "straight away from" can be computed from any square)?

Please let me know if you cannot see the diagrams / pictures in the above post and I will try again.

I think "straight away from" and "away from" are the same.

Do you have examples?

Also, waiting for Tarod_ to supply a list of reference topics...

Thanks for thinking about it. Here are some examples:

Charger
Charge Attack. If you move at least 10 feet in a straight line toward a target immediately before hitting it with a melee attack roll as part of the Attack action, choose one of the following effects: gain a 1d8 bonus to the attack's damage roll, or push the target up to 10 feet away if it is no more than one size larger than you. You can use this benefit only once on each of your turns.

Shield Master
Shield Bash. If you attack a creature within 5 feet of you as part of the Attack action and hit with a Melee weapon, you can immediately bash the target with your Shield if it's equipped, forcing the target to make a Strength saving throw (DC 8 plus your Strength modifier and Proficiency Bonus). On a failed save, you either push the target 5 feet from you or cause it to have the Prone condition (your choice). You can use this benefit only once on each of your turns.

Repelling Blast
Choose one of your known Warlock cantrips that requires an attack roll. When you hit a Large or smaller creature with that cantrip, you can push the creature up to 10 feet straight away from you.

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.

Force Demolisher
If you hit a creature that is at least one size smaller than you with the demolisher, you can push the creature up to 10 feet straight away from yourself or pull the creature up to 10 feet toward yourself.

My simple rule of thumb is that each space or square must be closer or farther away and if it say straight then no zigzag possible.

Quote from Plaguescarred >>

My simple rule of thumb is that each space or square must be closer or farther away and if it say straight then no zigzag possible.

 Thank you.

So this would mean that if it does not say "straight away" and just says "away" then the push to the left, directly forward, or forward and to the right would all be allowable?

When you say "no zig-zag possible" does that mean that stacking pushes you need to move it "straight away" so long as ANY push effect includes the "straight away" language?

Thus if you had Charger (w/ a run up), Shield Master, a Push Weapon, and Repelling Blast (on True Strike) then in the 1st diagram above you would need to decide to either:
1) push the enemy 15' to the left, directly forward, or forward to the right (deciding NOT to use Push mastery or Repelling Blast feature) or
2) push the enemy 45' if you were ok moving them forward to the left?

If you are large and push a small or medium enemy do you get the options in the right of the 2nd diagram or do you need to push based on the middle of your 4 squares like in the left part of the 2nd diagram? 

Also wondering about pulling - actually all of these issues are on the same Artificer Armorer Build who can make themselves Large Sized and can push or Pull with their Force Demolisher. Can my character at C pull enemy E1 so that they move through the Cloud of Daggers Spell? Language on the Force Demolisher says: "pull the creature up to 10 feet toward yourself".

Quote from SmiteMakesRight_3_5 >>

[...] Also, waiting for Tarod_ to supply a list of reference topics...

 😅 We have something: Pushing enemies against the wall in diagonal, how that works?

And, from the thread Gust Cantrip QuestionGust Cantrip Question: 

Quote from Plaguescarred >>

Even though i disagree, the Dev interpretation is more in line with TransmorpherDDS's take i shall say;

@volka1n Can the knock back granted by open hands flurry of blows be used to push the target vertically?

@JeremyECrawford Pushing someone away requires the whole move to be away from you. A diagonal push works. Vertical doesn't.

@JeremyECrawford If your target is above you, however, you can push them vertically. The point is this: you must push away.

EDIT: + HELP: Mastery Property PUSH

Quote from Tarod_ >>

Quote from SmiteMakesRight_3_5 >>

[...] Also, waiting for Tarod_ to supply a list of reference topics...

 😅 We have something: Pushing enemies against the wall in diagonal, how that works?

And, from the thread Gust Cantrip QuestionGust Cantrip Question: 

Quote from Plaguescarred >>

Even though i disagree, the Dev interpretation is more in line with TransmorpherDDS's take i shall say;

@volka1n Can the knock back granted by open hands flurry of blows be used to push the target vertically?

@JeremyECrawford Pushing someone away requires the whole move to be away from you. A diagonal push works. Vertical doesn't.

@JeremyECrawford If your target is above you, however, you can push them vertically. The point is this: you must push away.

EDIT: + HELP: Mastery Property PUSH

 Thank you. Yes, I think I had seen this which is why I assume that push can be diagonally away if it does not say "straight away from".

I think most of these conversations are from before 5.5e was published and I thought I had read that language was updated from "away from" to "straight away from" and that this impacted the interpretation (although language was not updated everywhere as can be seen from the examples I shared).

Quote from StonyMac >>

[...] If a character is bigger than medium are these movements calculated from the center of their squares or from one of their edge squares (left side assumes that "straight away from" is calculated from center of large character and right side assumes that "straight away from" can be computed from any square)?

 Regarding this question, since the creatures occupy the entire squares, IMO the range should be calculated from the edge of their tiles outward.

Ranges. To determine the range on a grid between two things—whether creatures or objects—count squares from a square adjacent to one of them and stop counting in the space of the other one. Count by the shortest route.

So, under my interpretation, something like this if push the creature up to 10 feet straight away from yourself:

Taking advantage of this conversation with the Dev, it's similar to the next example/explanation with a spell:

@RaywkLam I think thunderwave (5ft cube) is the red area. My friend argued it is the yellow. who is correct?

@JeremyECrawford The red square in the image represents the 15 ft. cube of thunderwave. See p. 204 in the PH for how cubes work.
@AardvarkBlue I believe the caster can also be 5′ right or left – not required to be center of the face they are touching.
@JeremyECrawford That's correct. A cube's point of origin needn't be in the center of one of the cube's faces. 

Also, StonyMac, I'm not sure if the following threads are useful for your rulings or games, but I've drawn several pictures in the past. I'm sharing them in case they're helpful:

- Grid AoE Mechanics
- The behaviour of spell AoEs and Line spells when originating from larger creatures
- Paladin Aura of Protection
- 2024 AOE changes
- Does Conjure Animals (2024) act like Spike Growth or like Spirit Guardians?
- 15 feet cone from above
- Dust disappearance aoe

(just to note the drawings I usually make don't use the optional rule in the DMG about diagonals on a grid, where range is measured differently)

Quote from Tarod_ >>

Quote from StonyMac >>

[...] If a character is bigger than medium are these movements calculated from the center of their squares or from one of their edge squares (left side assumes that "straight away from" is calculated from center of large character and right side assumes that "straight away from" can be computed from any square)?

 Regarding this question, since the creatures occupy the entire squares, IMO the range should be calculated from the edge of their tiles outward.

Ranges. To determine the range on a grid between two things—whether creatures or objects—count squares from a square adjacent to one of them and stop counting in the space of the other one. Count by the shortest route.

So, under my interpretation, something like this if push the creature up to 10 feet straight away from yourself:

Taking advantage of this conversation with the Dev, it's similar to the next example/explanation with a spell:

@RaywkLam I think thunderwave (5ft cube) is the red area. My friend argued it is the yellow. who is correct?

@JeremyECrawford The red square in the image represents the 15 ft. cube of thunderwave. See p. 204 in the PH for how cubes work.
@AardvarkBlue I believe the caster can also be 5′ right or left – not required to be center of the face they are touching.
@JeremyECrawford That's correct. A cube's point of origin needn't be in the center of one of the cube's faces. 

 Thank you. The Thunderwave example would be perfect if it also showed where targets in that cube could be moved to.

From your interpretation diagram (thank you for including) you also interpret "away from" and "straight away from" to have the same meaning. Also the assumption is that the closest edge to the opponent is the source of the push.

Quote from StonyMac >>

 Thank you. Yes, I think I had seen this which is why I assume that push can be diagonally away if it does not say "straight away from".

I don't think "straight away" matters. To take a wargaming perspective, choose a point in each creature's spaces and draw a line through them. The push must be along the line and away from you.

In your first post, I would say the first image is not allowed, but the bottom two are. Your artificer example with a bend to move the target into the Cloud of Daggers wouldn't be allowed (IMO), but you could probably effectively manage it with a strategic choice of paths.

Thanks for all the help and replies.

I was hoping there was a bit more flexibility in push direction.

Overall sounds like lots of repositioning if I want to make multiple attacks to push multiple enemies into the same AOE (or to push them next to each other).

I guess the more difficult Feat to make work is Charger since it is necessary to move 10' directly towards an enemy (and I assume then you push them in the line you were moving along).