Re: werewolfing item..
 

Is their upkeep zeroed?

Re: werewolfing item..
 

No, it's set to the base for a Skinshifter unit.

Re: werewolfing item..
 

Which wouldn't actually be bad for expensive research/ritual mages.
Going from ~300/15 to 25/15 may be worth it.

Pan, anyone?

Re: werewolfing item..
 

Actually, now that I think about it, EA R'lyeh Mind Lords could really want to want to turn themselves into werevolves to get more item slots.

Or Slanns from the Lizardmen mod. Both examples would likely get horrible old age, but since werewolves have automatic regen, it might not be that bad.

Re: werewolfing item..
 

If you don't mind losing their combat survivability in the meantime. And burning 5/3 N gems for the amulet.

Also, for a Pan (which has decent MR) it will take ages to finally fail the check.

If you're using CBM and the caster has any N paths (like your hypothetical Pan), it's better to just use Transformation (which *will* eliminate the upkeep.) Or, you can use the Life After Death/Ankh technique, if it's not considered an exploit in your games.

These all work on the same basic principle of substituting the base unit for a different unit type.

Re: werewolfing item..
 

Just make sure you're wearing something to provide water-breathing when you finally turn :p

Re: werewolfing item..
 

Yeah, makes them useless in combat, but still good for research/rituals.

In CBM, Transformation is better, though the amulet is still cheaper and leaves you with full slots. Transformation is kind of random. Can't it kill the mage? In vanilla, the amulet is much cheaper and available much earlier.
And of course it can be used on any mages, not just N. Probably works better on expensive human mages than on Pan though. Or, as Burnsaber pointed out, those with minimal slots.
Life after death is a lot harder to set up.

Re: werewolfing item..
 

Lore masters, if you can find them, could really use it.

Re: werewolfing item..
 

They'd lose their researchbonus, though.

Re: werewolfing item..
 

You lose research bonus with transformation too then?