So I have been hearing rumors that a Bestiary 4 is coming in the general future. I don't know if anyone else thinks of this when a new Bestiary comes out, but I always look forward to seeing if there are any interesting new Wild Shape options. Plant shape is particularly fun, and is one of the only ways for you to get Regeneration as an ability for any amount of significant time and without emptying your wallet.
Unfortunately, out of three Bestiaries there is still only one viable Druid Plant Shape that gives you Regeneration: the Tendriculos. Not that the Tendriculos is a bad monster or shape option, it's pretty cool. But when there is only one option for something like this, I can't help imagining how weird that must be to be taught as a Druid how to eventually get Regeneration. It's not really 'You can assume the powers of plants that regenerate much in the way that you can assume the scent ability of animals' as much as 'You can assume the powers of all these plants and the Regeneration powers of only the Tendriculos. Only the Tendriculos has this power, and there are other powers that other plants have that we don't learn, but we all love Tendriculos Regeneration.'
I'm not interested in gaming the system, I just no longer want to imagine every Druid standing around the water cooler saying 'Isn't it weird that we must all have been taught how to turn into a Tendriculos since it's the only way we could get plant regeneration? Isn't it weird that while there are certainly wild shape favorites, all of us know the Tendriculos transformation regardless of climate, regional background, and social background because it's the only way we could learn this power?'
So I want more plant monsters with Regeneration, just so I no longer have to imagine an army of druids saying "Alright, we just got done turning into a menagerie of different animals and creatures that can grab opponents. Our new orders are to change shape into something with Regeneration." And then all the Druids turned into the exact same Tendriculos.
Am I the only one that wants more plant monsters with Regeneration for the sole purpose of Plant Shape? Was there a reason Paizo never made more than one, or is it just a coincidence?
Well that's certainly a very niche desire.
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I too have been annoyed by this - especially since when I first gained Tendriculos wild Whape my GM pointed out that the monster is actually described as an unnatural abomination in the Bestiary. So why would a druid want to turn into one? Because it's the best way for them to heal out of combat.
I doubt that the people designing monsters are looking at them in the light of whether they'd make good wild shape options (especially since the power of the Wild Shape depends much less on the assumed form than it did in 3E).
But yeah, this bugs me.