Personally, if an enemy is dropping his weapon into a position they can use both hands and get in close enough to shove me, I should get a free attack of opportunity.
And to push me off or over they need to be able to hit me at or above my center of gravity. Otherwise, at most it is a tackle, fancy trip, or maybe a flip.
Joe
Right. Shove is supposed to be an Attack action symbolizing a combatant maybe clashing with their opponent and shoving to try to knock them back a pace or lose their footing and fall prone. Imagine Luke and Vader clashing, Vader shoves against Luke's sabre, and Luke falls on his butt OR he manages to keep his footing and stumbles a few steps backward.
THAT is D&D shove. It is an Action because you are physically engaging your opponent in a Strength contest and using a bit of extra force to knock opponents back or prone. It allows players to knock an enemy back so they don't get attack of opportunities on you or potentially on allies OR if prone you can provide allies with advantage when they attack with melee.
So, Fighter shoves Hobgoblin prone. Rogue rushes up and gets advantage and Sneak Attack. Cleric runs up and gets advantage. Even wizard can run up and have a better chance of hitting in melee. It's especially effective against high AC enemies, and gives more chance of Crits. Also gives buff Fighters a solid tactic that they can use in conjunction with other team members besides just Attack with weapon. And IF, you happen to have an enemy five feet from a ledge, THEN you can shove them off.
