I have seen the ring around the point pick. Controlled size by either snap radius, active distance or keep active distance I would guess. I imagine this pick area being able to be increased to a large area, then also having a "feathered effect" that can be applied to the perimeter. This would work with a slow "dropoff" of "scale" that the point picker applied to its actions. So like ZBrush, pick in a bunch of points and the one most centered is moved as precise normal, and as the points are further away from pick point, a density is applied to the move and the points start to move in smaller increments (like the way the view button sensitivity works).

Filters can be applied to the shape of the point picker, like a "star", and it would pull a star shape out of a surface. Different feathering methods produce different results. :O

And then my head exploded and I woke up!