DND 5E – Is There an Official Skeleton Player Race?

Well, Wizards released an entire web enhancement devoted to cats as an April Fools article, which has a lot of cool options for cats. It does have at least one “playable” cat (Cheshire Cat, to be exact), but it’s not really a very playable option because it has LA +3. If it lost the DR, toned down the ability score bonuses a bit, it could possibly pass as a more playable LA +1.

The more typical answer to the desire to play as a cat is to use the tibbit race from Dragon Compendium. These shapeshifters can take on the form of a housecat, and are an LA +0 race (i.e. in line with the regular races). In their regular form, they are Small, have −2 Strength but +2 Dexterity, and Darkvision out to 60 ft.

Catfolk are in Races of the Wild, but they’re fairly disappointing. They have LA +1, and get very little to show for it, sadly.

Shifters from Eberron Campaign Setting or Races of Eberron are quasi-lycanthropes that can “shift” or become more bestial, with fangs or claws or what have you. Could be somewhat feline, but mostly it’s just humanoid with claws etc. They are LA +0, but tend to be fairly underwhelming even for an LA +0 race: while shifting, they’re pretty typical, but that means when they’re not shifting, they’re sub-par.

Both tibbits and catfolk can probably qualify as “feline” for the purposes of the feats and similar in the Fabulous Cats! article. Shifters could if you let them, I suppose.

As for homebrew, bhu has a fair amount of kitty-related homebrew, and he’s a fairly noted ’brewer. I haven’t personally read any of his cat stuff, though.

You've already done what you can for that particular situation

The rest is up to those two.

I tried to tell him not take it seriously and that he acted was wrong but he tuned me out. I know that the fighter feels terrible because he, and everyone playing, didn't realize how important the last kill was to him. So before I left I told him that I understand that he is angry but he should call the fighter. I explained that maybe if he express his feelings then the two of them could comprise or come to an understanding.

If those two cannot, after time to settle down, make peace with each other then their time together in the party is going to be short. D&D 5e is generally a team game. It is a game of taking turns (basic stuff from kindergarden) and sharing in team success.

I plan to call both the fighter and other player to see how they are feeling and their concerns on the matter.

Since most of the advice on this site about player conflict is "talk to the players" you are already on the right path. You may be wondering about what the next few sessions will hold for you, since you want this to be fun and not interpersonal drama.

What can I as a DM do to prevent problems like this?

1. Make sure everyone gets their turn. (In a mechanical sense, stick to the initiative order, and make sure that the players know when it is their turn).

   • @umbranus made this point in a comment:

     ... I suggest using initiative to solve stuff like that. The Fighter used his turn to throw the barrel, so everyone else should get a turn before the Fighter goes again¹.

2. Make sure each player gets some time in the spotlight.

3. Remind everyone that we play these games for fun.

The link to the kill steal problem that @DaleM provided is worth reviewing before your next session.

¹ If the reason that the Rogue was unable to take his action is that you gave the Fighter a turn (tossing the barrel) and then he got to take his chance before the Rogue did, then there's some DM fault in this for not keeping the initiative/turn order going. However, if they were all over the room and the Fighter was closer, or was able to get there first in the regular turn order, then you have a different problem to deal with, as above.