[Whiteharbormaster]

As the actual player who prompted a friend of a friend to start this thread, I'd like to point out that the main question that needs answered is about whether the "instant refund" of spellcasting FP applies on energy spent to maintain a spell.

For more detail, I play in a play-by-post campaign where (aside from a few areas close around meteorite fragments -- "sky metal" is null to mana-based magic and in unworked form creates Low or No Mana areas) Normal Mana is the common condition. Although the campaign is officially DFRPG, it's been running for many years (I've been playing in it since 2015 -- about three months of game time! -- and there are post threads going back several years before that) and has a hybrid of standard 4th Edition, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy (from Pyramid and the little PDF chapbooks) and DFRPG rules.

The GM allowed me to spend 100 points at character creation (250 point character build) on Mana Enhancer 2 (no enhancements, so affects self only), so my character has Very High Mana most of the time.

Now, it seems to me that spell maintenance and missile spell expansion (character doesn't have any of those yet, he's effectively an apprentice wizard with a pretty limited spell list) should be under the same aegis as actual casting -- in that it's all magical energy spent, so Very High Mana ought to allow one to get it back next second (not asking to get back Power Item, Energy Reserve (Magic), nonexistent in DFRPG powerstone, Share Energy contributions, or HP spent). It seems, however, that by the strictest reading of the wording of the straight 4e Magic rules, only casting energy (not maintenance or missile expansion) is covered. Complicating this is that (and I don't have the DFRPG books to back this up -- I'm honestly not a dungeon delving fan, but it's hard to find a GURPS game where I live or online) DFRPG changed the wording slightly.

In the end, it all boils down to whether I can cast a spell -- say a fairly large Create Fire or Apportation of a few hundred pounds -- and maintain it all day. Obviously, with Create Fire, I could cast several 1-hex fires and maintain each one indefinitely at my base skill of 15 -- but casting dozens of small fires vs. a single radius-6 fire is a VERY different risk level, when every casting has that small risk of failure (that becomes a critical due to Very High Mana), and with "spells on" adding up, the chance of failure goes up too. And if I need to Apport, say, a four hundred pound boulder, I can't do that in small stages (and again, I could recast instead of maintain, but there's that failure risk again).

I knew when I built this character that his likely eventual demise would be via accidental demon summoning or other critical failure effect -- but that doesn't mean I don't want to avoid unnecessary risk.

I see the risk of spell failure (-> critical failure) and critical failure (-> "spectacular disaster"), combined with my short spell list due to spending 100 points on that core advantage, as the main limitations on a character like mine -- so far, I've been using "extra ritual" to gain +1 skill on almost every casting, so without "spells on" my failure chance is only 4 in 216 (17 or 18). Still, one in 54 is a non-trivial risk, so I tend to avoid unnecessary casting -- not at a pathological level, but more like a "combine trips and save gas" level. Anytime I can maintain rather than recast, it's a good thing, but if I can cast a big spell and only stagger for one second, but not maintain it without wearing myself out on a longer term, I'd at least like to hear a plausible mechanic about why that distinction exists -- because it'll change my whole play style.