It's not simple or obvious, but if you assume your users are that easily confused, you'll never produce anything more challenging than an Etch-a-Sketch.
There is really no need to berate users for wanting things to be easier,
Who's doing that? I want things to be easier. When I'm sketching, I want to be able to switch between the calligraphy tool and the freehand tool without having to go through and swap which of fill and stroke are turned on. Any feature that accomplishes that is good in my book.
And dont underestimate etch in the hands of somone who knows how to use it http://www.gvetchedintime.com/web/04.jpg
Nice pic, and it makes an interesting point. My request is not for Inkscape to be able to do new things, but to make it easier to do the things it can already do. You can use Inkscape on an Etch-a-Sketch level of complexity if you like, but giving users the option to have more complexity gives them the option to do less work to get the same results.