Level for Darkstalker Feat

[BowStreetRunner]

I am currently working on a stealthy skill-monkey build and am trying to work out the best levels to take each feat. I looked at a previous thread discussing the best level to take the Darkstalker feat, but that thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179338) just got hijacked into a discussion about Mindsight.

Has anyone ever taken the time to look at the CR of creatures that have blindsense, blindsight, scent, or tremorsense (the abilities we know are countered by the feat) to determine at what level Darkstalker starts to become vital? And no, I really don't care about whether there are other abilities out there that may or may not be countered by this feat. I just care about the ones that are specifically named.

I'd rather not spend a bunch of time poring over all of the monsters in 3.5 to figure this out if someone else has already done it.

[Azoth]

I haven't poured through every book or compiled data, but I personally like to take it no later than lvl3. You already get hosed at ecl by cats, dogs, wolves, and other annoying beasts that are common enough in a campaign.

[BowStreetRunner]

Okay, wow. I just went through the MM1 list of ordinary animals at the back of the book and it looks like 90% have at least scent, regardless of CR. So yeah, I think that may just need to be one of my L1 or L3 feats. Otherwise the GM will just have all of the buildings I am entering filled with guard-dogs and such.

Thanks.

[Piggy Knowles]

OK, just because I was interested, I started going through the Monster Manual, and here's what I've got thus far. This is just for CRs 1-5, although maybe I'll do the whole MM eventually.

I've broken this down by ability (scent, tremorsense, blindsense and blindsight). I also included the number of monsters that don't get any of the above traits, so that you can have an idea of what percentage they make up.

In the cases of monsters that have multiple traits, such as sharks (with both blindsense and scent), I've only marked them off as having whichever ability extends further (so, the sharks, having a 180' scent but only a 30' blindsense, get marked under scent). This way, the numbers aren't skewed by one monster getting a bunch of abilities.

CR 1:
SCENT: 12 monsters
TREMORSENSE: 3 monsters
BLINDSENSE: 1 monster
BLINDSIGHT: 2 monsters

Monsters without any of the above: 25

CR 2:
SCENT: 19 monsters
TREMORSENSE: 2 monsters
BLINDSENSE: 4 monsters
BLINDSIGHT: 0 monsters

Monsters without any of the above: 17

CR 3:
SCENT: 13 monsters
TREMORSENSE: 3 monsters
BLINDSENSE: 7 monsters
BLINDSIGHT: 2 monsters

Monsters without any of the above: 42

CR 4:
SCENT: 15 monsters
TREMORSENSE: 1 monster
BLINDSENSE: 7 monsters
BLINDSIGHT: 1 monster

Monsters without any of the above: 16

CR 5:
SCENT: 12 monsters
TREMORSENSE: 1 monster
BLINDSENSE: 7 monsters
BLINDSIGHT: 2 monsters

Monsters without any of the above: 22