Yeah, it's not one of the races in the Player's Handbook, i had the idea and we used the Tabaxi race found in Volo's Guide to Monsters (5e)
Once i hit level 3 i'm planning of taking the College of Sword route for Bard so he actually mainly relies in close combat/his long sword instead of his baby three spell slots. Most of the encounters the enemies have been out of sword range so i had to rely on some of my damaging spells. I had one spell slot reserved for healing but the enemy did 14 damage and he only has 13 HP
So he was downed but i didn't have to make any saving throws because one of the party was close enough to stabilize him. It's been a while for me too, in one group there's always someone that's working or busy and in the other group another member keeps having to cancel the game plans last minute.