There are a few things that modify initiative and make you immune to surprise.

Surprise Immunity

Initiative Bonus I don't think the feat is out of line with the rest of the abilities.

Surprise isn't that big of a deal, and some people love going first but honestly after the first round of combat initiative is not that big of a deal either.

I did leave off the artifacts, having both the hand and eye of vecna makes you immune to surprise and the sword of kas gives you a +1d10 to initiative, but those are artifacts and not commonly seen.