It's obviously a cursed item if equipping it turns you into a gnome...
Ghm, that's the staf01.itm ... you know, joking about item being cursed/cheat is not funny cause there are those things in this game.
The thing I don't get is that why the item even has a opcode 53 effect attached to itself, as it has no relevant effect, or any of the other effects either, cause there would be much smoother ways to go about it. Like for example using the opcode 177, and target only the given race with the 53... but nope.