1. A feat as per MSH had more in common with a skill check than a D20 feat if I remember correctly.
Yep. In fact, IIRC, "feat" was the term the game used in stead of "skill check". The thing closest to feats that MSH had is the "power stunt".
2. What makes something a 'feat' is very context oriented. A D20 feat is a D20 feat because the word 'feat' is used to describe a specific set of circumstances and data. Yes, White wolf's "Merit" (to take an example off the top of my head) is very similar to a "d20 Feat" but it is called a Merit and has different fields to describe what it does. The concept is almost identical, but context changes it.
Similarly.. how many games have spells in them? A whole ton. Most of them have ranges, levels, area of effect.. but only the D20 version has that particular set of fields in that particular order and calls them 'spells'. If I were to create a new game that gave PCs access to 'spells' I could.. I could even have most of the same fields.. it is just about the presentation and uniqueness. I probably would have Close(25+5/level) as a range for instance.
Yeah, 'cause then you'd risk infringing on Ars Magica. ;-) Sorry, i realize that's not true. But the spells is one of the areas (along with skills) where D&D3E most clearly shows part of its ancestry is Ars Magica.
Anyway, I was responding to "But isn't the very idea of a FEAT a mechanic that is derived from the SRD?" So i guess it depends on how you interpret "very idea of a FEAT". I read it as saying that the basic idea: a special ability, generally binary in nature (you either have it or you don't) gained as your character gains in experience, was derived from the D20SRD. But if you read it to mean "a special ability, gained through experience, generally binary in nature, and characterized by game rules categorized into "Benefit", "Prerequisite", and sometimes "Normal" and "Special" categories," then, yes, i suppose it's derived from the D20SRD. OTOH, while those particular headings aren't always used, there are very few binary abilities in any RPG game that *couldn't* be written that way. Unlike spells, monsters, or several other game widgets in D20 System, i'd say feats are just barely widgetized, and are much closer to being simple statements of rules. So i'd say that the latter, narrower, reading is unwarranted, and almost meaningless, and teh former, broader meaning illustrates that a "feat," is pretty much found in tons of RPGs, and the only elements of it that are unique to D20 System are the name "feat" and some artifacts of formatting.
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