They also don't surprise the party in combat very often. This should be one of those cases where rats turning into Shadow Druids all around you should give them a surprise round.
Why even add feats like Alert that counters being surprised if you're not going to use the mechanic? I guess players don't like being surprised because we are now entitled to dictate everything that happens in a game. Like killing bosses before they get a turn, use Stealth with a 100% success rate in full plate and respec our characters whenever and as often as we feel like.
