Now that Rod of Carnamagos has been ruled to act like a stick-shaped Olive McBride, here are some cards that interact with it. I've grouped them by what type of chaos bag you want, as the token distribution will affect the probability of revealing the token you want. If you're doing only or no-/, you don't need the upgraded version (though the Level 0 is only 1 per deck).

I'm not including interactions that are obviously bad, like Shrivelling.

bag

• Armageddon, Eye of Chaos, Shroud of Shadows: Perfect synergy with the Rod, and as a bonus you actually use the Rod for what it was originally intended for.
• Curse of Aeons: Yes this card sucks, but there is a niche case where you’re fishing for a in a heavy deck to activate a -specific card effect. Note you don’t remove the tokens until the end of the test so they can still come back to bite you in Step 3.
• Prismatic Spectacles
• Control Variable
• Fey: Use Rod on the first free trigger window before Step 2 when you commit skill cards. If a is revealed, you know that retrieving this card is guaranteed.

bag

• .35 Winchester: Works best with Jim Culver as will also trigger the bonus damage.
• Blessing of Isis: Useless as the conversion happens during the trigger window where it does nothing.
• Jacob Morrison
• Beloved: Like Fey, use Rod on the free trigger window before Step 2 to see if a is revealed to guarantee the auto-succeed if you commit.
• Guided by Faith
• Blessed Blade (level 0 version)
• Miracle Wish

Non-/ bag as those tokens dilute the chance of pulling other tokens these cards want

• Song of the Dead
• Jim's Trumpet
• Shards of the Void: The Rod allows you to get both bonuses from the spell with the same token, as you seal a 0 token in the free trigger window for +1 damage, which results in a +2 bonus during Step 3.
• Sixth Sense
• Wither

/ bag

• Jewel of Aureolus
• Ritual Candles: As per the FAQ, this triggers EVERY time a symbol is revealed during the test since it doesn't exhaust. You can stack bonuses during the Rod reveal because each revealed symbol nets you a +1 to the Step 3 skill test while their (usually negative) modifiers don't apply. (Edit: This interaction is probably the most busted on this list. You can stack massive bonuses with two candles in hand. Expect this to be nerfed somehow on the next Taboo list.)
• Spectral Razor, Read the Signs, Ethereal Form
• Banish: The bonus effect is sort of meh though.
• Tristan Botley
• Eye of the Djinn
• "Lucky" Penny: Sort of a funky interaction as it doesn't exhaust. That means it triggers during the Rod reveal and again during Step 3. Depending on your reveal and coin flips, you might pull a bunch of cards with this.
• Living Ink with Macabre Description upgrade
• Seal of the Elders: Also works with either servant
• (added) Token of Faith: Note that it's not Blessed so Kōhaku can't take it
• Broken Diadem: (edited) Good for summoning Twilight Diadem but once you have it, that card's ability to proc an is useless during the trigger window.
• Wish Eater: Useless as the /// token has no intrinsic effect so why cancel it, unless you REALLY need that healing effect.

Other interactions

• Premonition: Great synergy with the Rod. If you pull an or something else you want, don't trigger the Rod. If you pull a or something else you don't want, trigger the Rod to "dump" it so it doesn't mess up your Step 3 token pull.
• Prescient: Also great synergy. You can count the tokens to see which type you have most of before guessing (though this will probably be "symbol" in most cases).
• Recall the Future: Not as good synergy as you need to specify a specific token. Unlike a skill card, you must activate this at the beginning of the skill test, so you can't cheat and use the first free trigger window to see what tokens you pull first.
• Unrelenting: You can use this to seal tokens you don't want revealed before triggering the Rod.
• The Rod won't help Sacred Covenant and Paradoxical Covenant as they only trigger during Step 3 (good thing as Paradoxical would be sort of busted otherwise).
• Blasphemous Covenant, False Covenant, and Ancient Covenant: Works but useless. .35 Winchester might be an exception for Blasphemous—if every token you pull with the Rod is negative but you pull a , trigger the Covenant to make it non-negative, thereby guaranteeing the extra damage if you hit.

As a reminder, revealed tokens from the Rod only trigger card effects. They have no intrinsic effects on their own, so revealing 2 tokens with the Rod won't screw you over (and actually helps you for symbol-triggering card effects).

Some small Innsmouth spoilers below. For the context, it was three players going all-in on curse token plays.

I played this "can't move" Rot on turn one during Horror in High Gear, suddenly making the scenario a cakewalk. High chases aren't usually that thrilling when the chasers are several miles behind:) That felt pretty cheesy, especially as it was the fan-made Return to, which fixed some previously known cheesy plays like, for example, Luke+barricade, but could not handle the Rod. Previously in same campaign I've used the "can't attack" Rot on Deep One Bull in the Pit of Despair, which not only eliminated the threat, but also changed usually quite annoying Deep one assaults into very mild "choose and discard one card from your hand" - the Bull was never disengaged, so when the Assault was drawn, the Bull just disengaged and reengaged me. Still needed to clear the other enemies, of course, but all the other non-elites are much more reasonable for scenario 1. Now imagine the same "can't attack" Rot on any non-elite enemy in any campaign when playing alongside Trish. Even easier than the Handcuffs trick. Also, still in the same campaign, I felt like my Olive McBride underperformed, since her intended use was for Eye of Chaos/Armageddon tests, but tapping the Rod is much less risky, even when Olive was upgraded.

Now, my point is, in that campaign I tried the Rod for the first time and had no intentions of breaking or cheesing the game. After that experience I am afraid that there could be much more really broken stuff to be found with the Rod and its Rots.

Just adding an email ruling from FFG Game Rules Specialist pertinent to Rod.

Question:

Hello,

A question about multiple tokens in Arkham Horror.

Suppose I have a Rod of Carnamagos and a Seal of the Elder Sign.

If I use Rod before Step 2 of a skill test (and reveal say 5 non-special tokens), and then commit Seal of the Elder Sign in Step 2, from the FAQ entry of how "cards that refer to single tokens being revealed should be considered to refer to each revealed tokens", my read is that the game treats all 5 tokens that I revealed as stars.

Then, since I have Seal of the Elder Sign committed, I don't reveal a token during Step 3 as I'm automatically successful. Do I get the effects of 5 star tokens?

thanks!

Answer:

No, Seal of the Elder Sign does not treat tokens revealed via Rod of Carnamagos as elder signs. You resolve their abilities separate from one another.

If you trigger Rod of Carnamagos during a skill test, you do not resolve the effects of the tokens it reveals, except for its own ability of checking for a curse token and any abilities that state “if you reveal _ during a skill test…” (like Armageddon’s ability).

After you finish resolving Rod’s ability, you continue with the other steps of the skill test, and you would skip revealing tokens during Step 3 with Seal of the Elder Sign, instead resolving the test as if you’d drawn an elder sign token.

The most pertinent part being the essentially explicit implication that tokens revealed outside of Step 3 during a skill test don't apply to skill value, don't resolve funky effects, etc unless it's an effect based on being "revealed".

Happy Rod+Candles-ing!

The Rod feels impossible to review, due to the complete disconnect between what the card says it does, and what it really does.

It says you get to apply Rot to non-elite enemies. In practice, it lets you trigger "whenever a symbol is revealed during a skill test" triggers on your cards far more often, and more reliably, than it ought to.

I have a feeling a taboo for this card is inevitable, what do we think it will be? I think the most elegant way to make sure the card is only used for its intended purpose would be to make it require an action to use - no more using it during skill tests.