Do SoP wands require SP be spent on abilities that don't require SP?

Question

The magic items in Spheres of Power (SoP) are a little incomplete for some rulings.

I'm currently trying to figure out if a wand always uses spell point (SP) for activating any ability, or only if the activated ability uses one.

An example of this would be a wand of destruction. It only has the base sphere destruction, which allows you to create a 1d6 ray. Would using this ability always require the SP cost, or would you only consume the wands SP when using the stronger form which does 2d6?

Wands

Rather than creating a sphere-like effect, a crafter with the Craft Wand feat can take this a step further and actually place the ability to wield a sphere into an item itself. These wands (usually made from a thin baton of wood or metal) allow a caster to use its magical abilities as if they were its own.

Wands use the spell trigger activation method, meaning using an ability contained within a wand is usually a standard action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. To activate a wand, a character must hold it in hand (or whatever passes for a hand, for non-humanoid creatures) and point it in the general direction of the target or area. A wand may be used while grappling or while swallowed whole.

A caster must possess the wand’s base sphere in order to activate it. When used, the caster may use any sphere ability contained therein, using the wand’s caster level when determining the power of the effect and using the wand’s spell points when empowering the effect. Under normal circumstances, a caster cannot spend their own spell points or use their own caster level when activating a wand. If a wand’s effects call for a saving throw, the DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 the wand’s caster level. A wand does not recover spent spell points on its own.

Once per day, a caster who’s caster level is at least equal to the wand’s caster level may spend one of their spell points to restore 1 spell point to the wand. A wand may only have one spell point per day restored in this fashion, regardless of how many casters attempt to do so.

The simplest wand a crafter may create contains a base sphere, 1 spell point, and a caster level of 2. This wand has a base price of 1,000 gp. When a crafter increases a wand’s caster level (to a maximum of their own), for every 2 caster levels a wand is increased, the crafter may place an additional magic talent into the wand, or may increase the wand’s spell point pool by 1.

A crafter must possess each talent to be placed in the wand, or else must have access to that talent through another caster. Likewise, if the crafter possesses a sphere-specific drawback in the sphere used to create the wand (or simply wants to create a focused wand), that wand also possesses that sphere-specific drawback. The wand gains a bonus magic talent or spell point in exchange for this sphere-specific drawback.

A wand may contain an advanced talent, but must possess that talent’s minimum caster level, as well as all of its prerequisite talents. A wand may be used to meet the prerequisites for creating other magic items.

Answer 1

Using a Sphere Ability with no cost incurs no reduction to the Wand's SP.

From within the rules you quoted, with emphasis:

When used, the caster may use any sphere ability contained therein, using the wand’s caster level when determining the power of the effect and using the wand’s spell points when empowering the effect.

When you need to spend SP, it comes from the wand, but if you are using a Trick, you can do so for free. There doesn't seem to be a base SP cost for use of the wand in this case.

It's fairly reasonable (if not overly expensive) that for 1000g, you can infinitely use a basic 1d6 damage ability (as a Trick) without incurring an Attack of Opportunity (but you could still be attacked for attempting a ranged attack, if appropriate). This is only marginally better than the base game's Cantrips which cost 50g (spell component pouch) to cast infinitely.