So if you wanted to be
able to make a subpath that looks and behaves (UI-wise) as a circle I
think it may definitely be non-trivial.


Actually, I was thinking it would just do a quick "Convert-object-to-path" on the fly, and add the nodes to the path, like Pajarico suggested. No, you wouldn't be able to edit the arcs after you've created them, because they wouldn't exist as soon as you lift your mouse up.

So perhaps that would remove a lot of the usefulness anyway.

 - Bryan