RPG a Day 2018: Day 21...Which dice mechanic appeals to you?

Today's prompt gives me a chance to talk about 13th Age and their dice mechanic called 'Escalation Dice'

http://www.13thagesrd.com/

Most of this entry might be copy 'n pasta, but there's no point in reinventing the wheel:

"Escalation Die

The escalation die represents a bonus to attacks as the fight goes on.

At the start of the second round, the GM sets the escalation die at 1. Each PC gains a bonus to attack rolls equal to the current value on the escalation die. Each round, the escalation die advances by +1, to a maximum of +6.

Monsters and NPCs do not add the escalation die bonus to their attacks

If the GM judges that the characters are avoiding conflict rather than bringing the fight to the bad guys, the escalation die doesn’t advance. If combat virtually ceases, the escalation die resets to 0."

Sounds good, right? Nothing drags the combat down like both characters and enemies missing turn after turn. Using this system means people are more and more likely to hit. The monsters are stated in such a way that in round 1 they have the advantage, by round 3 it should be equal, and by round 4 or better the party will have the advantage...provided that they keep playing in a proactive/aggressive style. It should also be pointed out that "boss" Monsters/NPCs do get the escalation die. As described in the book, the ones who you don't want to get it are usually the ones who will. 

I've since used this mechanic in almost every game that I play. It happens that I'm not doing it for the Cyberpunk 2020 that I'm running now, but that system has too many bonuses going on to keep track of anyway. The system worked very well in Ryuutama and Dungeons and Dragons. I may write and/or copy and paste more about 13th Age again down the line. It's a good system that doesn't get the love it deserves.