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Replaces: Fatigue, Ray of Exhaustion, Waves of Fatigue
Fatigue, Mysticism Spell 0-6
School necromancy
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range See Text
Area/Targets See Text
Duration See Text
Saving Throw See Text Spell Resistance yes
0) You make a melee attack against a single target creature’s EAC at touch range, adding your key ability score modifier to the attack roll instead of your Strength modifier if it is higher. The target must succeed
at a Fortitude save or be fatigued for 1 round/level. This spell has no effect on a creature that is already fatigued. Casting this spell doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity.
1) You make a melee attack against a single target creature’s EAC at touch range, adding your key ability score modifier to the attack roll instead of your Strength modifier if it is higher. The target must succeed at a Fortitude save or be fatigued for 1 minute/level. This spell has no effect on a creature that is already fatigued. Casting this spell doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity.
2) You make a ranged attack against a single target creature’s EAC at close range (25ft + 5 ft/2 levels), adding your key ability score modifier to the attack roll instead of your Dexterity modifier if it is higher. The target must succeed at a Fortitude save or be fatigued for 1 minute/level. This spell has no effect on a creature that is already fatigued.
3) You make a ranged attack against a single target creature’s EAC at close range (25ft + 5 ft/2 levels), adding your key ability score modifier to the attack roll instead of your Dexterity modifier if it is higher. The target must succeed at a Fortitude save or be exhausted for 1 minute/level. A creature that succeeds at a Fortitude saving throw is only fatigued, unless it is already fatigued, in which case it instead becomes exhausted despite the saving throw.
4) Target creatures within a 30 ft cone-shaped burst must succeed at a Fortitude save or be exhausted for 1 minute/level. A creature that succeeds at a Fortitude saving throw is only fatigued, unless it is already fatigued, in which case it instead becomes exhausted despite the saving throw.
5) Target living creatures within a 30 ft cone-shaped burst are fatigued. This spell has no effect on a creature that is already fatigued.
6) Target living creatures within a 30 ft cone-shaped burst are exhausted. This spell has no effect on a creature that is already exhausted.
In summary:
Cantrip: Melee attack with casting attribute, save vs. very transient fatigue.
L1: Melee attack with casting attribute, save vs. transient fatigue
L2: Ranged attack with casting attribute, save vs. transient fatigue
L3: Ranged attack with casting attribute, save vs. transient exhaustion, or stacking fatigue if the save is successful - originally Ray of Exhaustion
L4: Cone with save vs. transient exhaustion, or stacking fatigue if the save is successful
L5: Cone of fatigue, no save - originally Waves of Fatigue.
L6: Cone of exhaustion, no save
I don't think anything here is terribly unbalanced, though this does have a slightly peculiar consequence. As I'm not aware of anything in Starfinder that would act as a Fortitude based equivalent of Evasion, L5 is arguably worse than L4 save for duration. Normal fatigue is certainly better than transient fatigue, but I'm not certain that guaranteed normal fatigue is better than guaranteed transient fatigue that could potentially be exhaustion. On the other hand, actually checking Remove Affliction shows that it doesn't deal with fatigue or exhaustion in any of its forms, so if you can take advantage of the duration, L5 has a clear advantage, so it's situationally rather more powerful.
It could be fine, but that particular point in the progression feels a little unintuitive to me.
It's not just the duration buff - ignoring the save drastically spikes its odds of going through - but the core of the problem, I think, is that Waves of Fatigue is too weak for an L5 spell. Here's an alternative progression which also addresses that concern.
Alternate progression:
4) Target creatures within a close (25ft + 5 ft/2 levels) line-shaped burst must succeed at a Fortitude save or be exhausted for 1 minute/level. A creature that succeeds at a Fortitude saving throw is only fatigued, unless it is already fatigued, in which case it instead becomes exhausted despite the saving throw.
5) Target creatures within a close (25ft + 5 ft/2 levels) cone-shaped burst must succeed at a Fortitude save or be exhausted for 1 minute/level. A creature that succeeds at a Fortitude saving throw is only fatigued, unless it is already fatigued, in which case it instead becomes exhausted despite the saving throw.
6) Target living creatures within a close (25ft + 5 ft/2 levels) cone-shaped emanation are exhausted.
This upgrades Waves of Fatigue in practice, as you point out. I also upgraded the L6 version to be slightly more compelling, in competition with spells like save or die.