power creep in starting ability scores

[diplomancer]

And if they don't want to rely on luck, they can take the safe choice and pick point buy. It's their choice, nobody forces them to roll. But they are not entitled to the rewad with no risk.

Being stuck for months with a character that sucks is pretty bad, and saying "well you accepted the risk, suck it up buttercup" doesn't make it suck any less. Which is why I prefer "point-buy or your choice between a 4d6b3 that you've rolled or standard array".

If you're unlucky and roll poorly, you might not get the exact character you want, which I agree should not be a given, specially if you took the risk of rolling, but at least you will be competent. And, more importantly from the DM point of view, more in-line with the system's expectation. Why simultaneously make life worse for the player and harder for you?