Actually gifted is great as-is.
It doesn’t just grant you a level early, it grants you an additional levels worth of stats at max value overall. It’s effect is always on, it can be tailored to your specific dudes. It’s a great perk for every character.
Let’s compare it to, say, Backstab. Backstab grants +5% accuracy for each other dude bordering the enemy. Most of the time this will be one or none. Gifted gives you an always-on +4%, and two other equal impact bonuses besides.
For a ranged character, it offers a +5% chance to hit, +4% chance to evade AND a +5 to init or fatigue. That’s hardly minor! Especially since bonuses to accuracy and evasion get more powerful the more of them you have. It’s basically a must-have on archers and dodge-based guys.
