in reply to PAR --addfile

664 is either the default mode used by PAR for external files or is controlled by your UMASK setting. You may want to change the mode of the figlet explicitly in your script right before you call it using Perl's chmod or using a system call.

I can see how PAR may just try to ensure that it is readable, so I am not sure. PAR does have a mailing list as well, so they may be of more help.