So... how do you guys handle NPC initiations? Or Companion initiations, for that matter?
Say, you want to generate an unGifted hedge magician, like a Learned Magician with 2 arts. Do you include the Arts in the starting Virtues, and that's it? Do you include them alongside the necessary Flaws? Do you generate unGifted magicians as ordinary people, and initiate them as if they acquired the initiation later in life?
For consistency, it's easiest to balance the Virtues needed for their hedge arts with the flaws from the initiation script. If that makes for an NPC you don't want, balance the Virtues with other Flaws and say it's because they used a lesser-known initiation script or an experimental script. Remember, by RAW ungifted people can't gain a Virtue through Initiation without also gaining a Flaw.