Weapons, improvised or otherwise, used to grapple, disarm, shove or trip?

[Ogun]

Inspired by the Artificers 6th level ability, Tool Expertise and the Tavern Brawler Feat, I was thinking about making a crowbar wielder who would trip his opponents.

But, I can't find any clear ruling on using weapons for combat maneuvers, not even for the whip.

Is this just not a thing in 5E?

[Man_Over_Game]

Inspired by the Artificers 6th level ability, Tool Expertise and the Tavern Brawler Feat, I was thinking about making a crowbar wielder who would trip his opponents.

But, I can't find any clear ruling on using weapons for combat maneuvers, not even for the whip.

Is this just not a thing in 5E?

Not without a Battlemaster or a DM that likes homebrew, nope. You can kinda get close with some of the new feats in Tasha's, but not much.

It's why I hate how the Attack Action was designed. Starts extremely simple, has very little room for complexity 19 levels later. Imagine playing a Wizard where your entire class identity was casting Firebolt for 20 levels. Bleh.

I added a blanket mechanic that does something like you're describing. It's in my homebrew stuff in the signature, under Pain. The idea is that you use temporary exhaustion (removed via magical healing or resting) to debilitate enemies to simulate hitting their joints or wearing them out with dirty tricks.

I've also liked the idea of allowing Hit Dice to allow anyone to make a Battlemaster Maneuver, halving the value of the die (rounded down).

[Hytheter]

You don't need any particular implement to shove (which includes tripping for all intents and purposes). It's just a thing you can do independent of what you are holding. Grapple does require a free hand, though. I'm rusty on the Disarm rules; they're DMG optional and weirdly incongruent with the others.

[Falconcry]

Ask your DM if you can modify a spear into a mancatcher.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/e/e4/Mancatcher_OA.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/360/height/450?cb=20201021113736