“With each level of this Perk, you gain an additional 4 Hit Points every time you advance a level. This is in addition to the Hit Points you already gain per level based off of your Endurance.”— Fallout 2 In-game description
Every time the player character gains a level, they gain an additional four Hit Points for each rank of this perk. With two ranks of Lifegiver, that's +8 HP each level, which is more than 10 points in Endurance would give you.
Although it's not clear from the description, Lifegiver grants +4 HP for every level gained, including the level when the perk was taken. (Fallout Tactics does not give the HP on the level you take the perk.)
You instantly gain another +20 maximum Health, and slowly regenerate lost Health.
001d2467
This is best as an early-game perk. The math is such that, once one reaches Level 32, they would have been better off just putting 1 more point into Endurance than in getting a level in the Lifegiver perk. However, the benefits of +20 Health early game can be considerable.
The health regeneration gained from the third rank grants the player 0.5% health every second. However, health is not regenerated while in combat (i.e. when enemies are nearby.) The health regeneration is fast enough (out of combat) to be a real convenience.
Edit
In Fallout: New Vegas, the health that Lifegiver grants is excluded from the 50% calculation for Ferocious Loyalty. [verified]
