ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

I have 4 points in dark gift but only lvl 1 gift is active. Description level say "Curse level" should be no less than Dark gift lvrl. What is "Curse level"?
edit: got it - number of curses on all items

Yes... but can you have a high-ish level of a curse without a fair investment in the first 2 talents?

I would not rely on curses -too- much because of how random the distribution can be, but if you can pull if off, then by all means, they can give great benefits.