what else can pav dough become? feels wasteful mastering one dough for one bun

Congratulations - and excellent instinct, because a mastered soft enriched dough is basically a product LINE wearing one name.

Same dough, different shapes and sizes: burger buns (bigger portions, spaced apart instead of crowded, sesame on top), dinner rolls, stuffed pull-apart balls (thick cool fillings, sealed seams, seam-side down), cinnamon-roll-style sweet spirals, even a soft loaf if you bake it as one mass in a tin. The proofing checks, the 83°C doneness, the butter polish - all carry over untouched.

What it can't become: anything lean and crusty (baguettes want a different, leaner dough) or laminated (that's a separate discipline). But within the soft-bread universe, you now own the master key. Price the burger buns properly - they sell for double the pav money for the same dough 🙂