What I want:
The main dialer screen will have three tabs: Dial pad, favorites, recent calls (which inlcudes missed calls).
One of the settings will allow me to set the preference for which tab comes up when first opening the phone app. In my case that would be favorites for obvious reasons.
Once in any one of those tabs they can behave in the standard HTC SENSE way with one exception. I hate how SENSE places the recent calls at the top of the list.
Another possibility would be to modify the existing dialer to have a preference for which mode to open in. In that case I could just select favorites. But I still like the fisrt idea better.