I never really looked at it, anyone use it? Two turns of having 18 STR, 17 DEX, and 2 APR at 1d8... not bad. And you can cast it forever without resting! I've got Jahiera wearing it until she gets her animal forms, without it she's doing 3/2 with no STR bonus at 1d6.

It also might make Rassad halfway useful at earlier levels when monks kinda suck. And after Branwen gets DoHM at level 3 she could cast DoHM and shift to a wolf to have 19 STR, 18 DEX and 16 CON with double her normal APR...

I never use it because in the case of spellcasters, I don't like to have the spells locked, the back line archers have better THAC0, and the front line tanks have better AC. And to avoid micromanagement I want to keep the roles separated.

In the case of spell casters, I could see not wanting them all shifted, but with priests you can buff before hand and heal after. Archers I agree with you on, though maybe it'd be good backstabbing? As for tanks, it doesn't seem to effect AC.

It might not have much use late or even mid game, but I'm thinking it deserves a second look for earlier levels and in combination with certain characters...