Zodiac-based perks

[gr8artist]

So, this is something I was toying around with and wanted to share.
The abilities can be something given at character creation, or something "unlocked" at early-to-mid levels via. some kind of relic or spell. Since the ability's source is still vague, the power level on these perks is also vague.
The bonus and penalty durations are still vague as well... something the DM should just go by on a case-by-case basis. The general idea, however, is that the benefit shouldn't be usable until AT LEAST after the penalty is gone, and preferably twice that long.
For example: an ability that gives +4 on a single roll, but then -4 on all rolls. If used in combat, you get a +4 on a single roll (attack). Your other attacks and rolls take -4 for at least 1 round. You wouldn't be able to use the +4 benefit again until after 2 rounds or so.
The whole thing is still in the planning stages, but I'm thinking of giving these powers to my characters in the form of enchanted cards or something, usable as a standard action (or as appropriate for the ability).
Note: characters should NOT be allowed to pick their Zodiac Perk.
Roll 1d12 for dat.

Hourglass Wizards, late bloomers, ackowledged in their later years
Doubles the ability score benefit from age categories. Character ages randomly and more quickly than normal

Dragon Great power, often a great danger
Character can grant himself a bonus of +10 on a single roll, but either he or one of his allies takes a -10 penalty on another roll of the DM's choosing.

Mask Entertainers, tricksters and liars
Character can take 20 on a charisma skill check, but all npc’s treat their attitude toward him as 1 or more steps lower than normal. Character is frequently blamed for crimes.

Hammer Judges, lawmakers, stubborn fools
Attacks against criminals gain a bonus, but the character suffers a penalty on any check or DC that would beneficially affect his mood or mindset.

Great Oak Caretakers, healers, patrons and fathers
This character can aid another for heal checks and healing spells. Any check or spell modified this way or used by this character negates all afflictions for 1 round.

Falcon Self sufficient, farmers and hunters, poor social skills
Always has food available and at least 20 gold in pocket change. Character takes a -5 penalty on all charisma based checks.

Archway Children and youth, fools and lovable troublemakers
Gain a +5 initiative bonus or act in a surprise round when you would be otherwise unable to do so. Any check with a natural result of 3 or less is an automatic failure for the rest of the fight.

Scythe Isolated, perverse and misunderstood
Change the character’s type to another (dragon, outsider, etc.) for the purposes of spells and effects that target a creature type. Character speaks only an uncommon language during this time.

Knight Loyal friends, dependable but boring
Double the bonus granted by any aid another action, but take an equal penalty on all checks for 2 rounds.

Ship Travelers and traders, flighty and irresponsible
Double a day’s travel or make a short journey in half the normal time. You may receive no discounts, favoritism, or affection. You may not borrow money.

Void Uncertain, idiot savants and the handicapped (formerly the Lion)
The character gains a temporary bonus to a type of check for a short time, but suffers a permanent penalty to one ability score.
(This symbol represents a dark hole or cloud in the night sky that recently obscured the former constellation "Lion")

Ram Short tempered and problematic, stubborn fighters
Character gains a bonus during the first few rounds of combat, but suffers penalties outside of combat. Penalties are magnified if the character avoids any combat.

[Seer_of_Heart]

My opinions going down the list

Hourglass-GOLD, I don't need to say anything
Dragon-Silver, very useful but be careful
Mask-bronze, even if you get a 20 on diplomacy they still won't be fanatic
Hammer-bronze, seems pretty useless
Great Oak-bronze, not very useful
Falcon-Silver, pretty useful at low levels and about the charisma checks eh have someone else be the face
Archway-Gold if you're a spellcaster who doesn't need to worry about rolls
Scythe-silver, pretty useful occasionally and fun(I see ways to abuse this)
Knight-Silver, if you build a character around this its excellent
Ship-bronze, only useful at low levels or at a time constraint that teleport doesn't work on
Void-NOPEpermanent stat loss is not worth it unless its to your dump stat(s)
Ram-silver, don't be a face

[Ernir]

1. This looks a lot like homebrew.
2. The power level of these abilities is... all over the place, and some require more rigorous definition. I'd start with traits (or flaw + feat combos) as a starting point of balance.

[DarkEternal]

You have something similar in a published adventure called the Drow War where you can choose a birth sign which is basically a star. It gives you an ability you can use once per session, and it ranges from stupid (The Great Wolf for instance gives you 1d6 extra damage on your roll), to absurdly powerful (automatic success on any charisma check) if you know how to use it.

[Certified]

1. This looks a lot like homebrew.
2. The power level of these abilities is... all over the place, and some require more rigorous definition. I'd start with traits (or flaw + feat combos) as a starting point of balance.

I'd like to echo this. With the Traits introduced in Pathfinder I'd look there as a starting point. Traits are effectively half the power of a Feat but offer interesting background and play options. Particularly if you would like to add a new class skill or a minor edge in one area.

Here is a link if you haven't seen them before.

[GnomeGninjas]

This is an interesting idea but the signs aren't balanced.

Falcon is absurd, you get a replenishing pool of 20 GP (unless I'm reading something wrong). It can give you infinite wealth:
1)Spend all your money on useful things
2)Falcon gives you 20 Gp
3)Buy crap with 20 Gp
4)Falcon gives you 20 Gp
5)Buy crap with 20 Gp
6)Falcon gives you 20 Gp
7)Repeat steps 2-7 until you have hundreds of thousands of Gp worth of crap
8)Sell crap
9)Repeat

Ship is pointless because you'll probably be traveling with a group, one person moving twice as fast won't help much.

Scythe seems rather pointless and almost completely negative.

Ram is too vague.

Knight doesn't seem useful, aid another rarely come up (in my experience).

Mask is weird, charisma skill checks are useless for most characters and having a -1 audited basically nullifies the benefit of taking 20.

My opinions going down the list

Hourglass-GOLD, I don't need to say anything
Dragon-Silver, very useful but be careful
Mask-bronze, even if you get a 20 on diplomacy they still won't be fanatic
Hammer-bronze, seems pretty useless
Great Oak-bronze, not very useful
Falcon-Silver, pretty useful at low levels and about the charisma checks eh have someone else be the face
Archway-Gold if you're a spellcaster who doesn't need to worry about rolls
Scythe-silver, pretty useful occasionally and fun(I see ways to abuse this)
Knight-Silver, if you build a character around this its excellent
Ship-bronze, only useful at low levels or at a time constraint that teleport doesn't work on
Void-NOPEpermanent stat loss is not worth it unless its to your dump stat(s)
Ram-silver, don't be a face

You're right that some of these could be useful if you base your build around them, that's not what happens. They are randomly assigned at some point in character creation or low-mid levels.

[Telonius]

This is an interesting idea but the signs aren't balanced.

Falcon is absurd, you get a replenishing pool of 20 GP (unless I'm reading something wrong). It can give you infinite wealth:
1)Spend all your money on useful things
2)Falcon gives you 20 Gp
3)Buy crap with 20 Gp
4)Falcon gives you 20 Gp
5)Buy crap with 20 Gp
6)Falcon gives you 20 Gp
7)Repeat steps 2-7 until you have hundreds of thousands of Gp worth of crap
8)Sell crap
9)Repeat
.

Or...

1 Find person with Falcon sign.
2 Turn person upside down
3 Shake
4 Repeat

[hymer]

Consider the implications of the randomness. You could easily end up screwing a player over by giving his character a horrible handicap on his preferred shtick. Randomness is generally a bad thing for character generation, and ought to be avoided, not sought out.

[GnomeGninjas]

Or...

1 Find person with Falcon sign.
2 Turn person upside down
3 Shake
4 Repeat

That's even better.

[ArcturusV]

Well, the general concept of Zodiac Determined Powers is not really a bad thing in and of itself. Though I'm not in favor of making it a random determination. I mean typically when someone makes a character you don't force other (mostly cosmetic but possibly mechanical) details on them like Alignment, hometown, etc. Well, mostly, always an exception out there.

But you're asking for it to always apply. And to be randomly determined. And to only happen after they put some levels in so it's not like they could plan for it.

The way I see it, the obvious fixes are:

You determine your Zodiac Sign randomly when you roll up stats. This way a guy knows what it is and won't waste time/feats or anything opening up a potentially craptastic ability that might be more curse than boon. There's nothing wrong with Curses in general, but it shouldn't be something you really spend resources on unless you're feeling particularly sadistic. "Oh yeah, you bought a Cloak of +1 Resistance from the Magic Shop! Oooo, it was a cursed item."

Allow them more options when it's determined randomly. Like when you roll a guy can use what he landed on, or the two signs next to it as if he was born on a cusp between the two and might tilt one way or the other.

Just let them pick the sign. However if you do that, you'd have to balance out the signs a bit better, obviously. Or make it so the "Cursed" signs are much, much easier to unlock (Maybe just a simple quest to do it or getting an appropriate blessing), while the more useful Signs are much harder to get (Gold Investments, XP investments, maybe a feat, on top of IC unlocking like quests).

I mean it's not a bad idea in general. The concept is decent. Just the execution leaves something to be desired as mentioned by previous posts.