Ineffective new rods

[Party in the forest at midnight]

Hopefully this thread won't derail and will focus on checking out the output of new items!

Today I came across a Rod of Ball Lightning, single use CL 20. I used it on a mid-level dungeon boss, the DC on the item is lower than the boss' base reflex save before the roll.

In the chest next to it was another item that cast ball lightning at CL 9. I didn't even think to get the name of it, it had a spider for a graphic. The CL 20 one is not good, the CL 9 one is probably a lot worse and could be removed.

[Apokriphos]

...
Today I came across a Rod of Ball Lightning, single use CL 20. I used it on a mid-level dungeon boss, the DC on the item is lower than the boss' base reflex save before the roll.

Your thread has valid concerns of any cast spell item for offensive, non warding purposes. Said spells usually have a DC check. However, a large issue with almost all world's with medium levels of magic items such as Arelith is the stacking of universal save equipment. Players do this ubiquitously at high level, and NPCs generally match this in epic level dungeons.

It is a reality of Arelith that most DC spells fail against their intended target in high levels. This is a fundamental issue that addressing wands wont fix.

A simpler solution is to change the wands to powerful warding spells so that they are unaffected by the DC check. Another solution is to add some additional effect on spells even when a saving throw check is successful.