Shortly after our group switched to 3.75, we opted to use some rules from someting called trailblazer. One of the limitations set by trailblazer involved what could be reset from a rest, like certain types of spells.

Another "incentive" was buffed boss fights, if we fought some guys then retreated and rested, the previously cleared room might have a guy with hit points multiplied by the nmber of players. Of course if they beat him, they also got experience multiplied by the same number.

When i finally work up the courage to run my game, my incentive would be to accually REDUCE the experience gained. If you send them to fight something a lvl lower they get less EXP, well their frequent resting is in effect, lowering the encounter lvl. So tell them that they are recieving less exp, but that the enemies will be progressing in difficulty as normal.

Soooo, basically you are going to punish spellcasters for running out of spells?

Yah, 3.5 is bullox all the way.

I thbink 4e is a lot easier to deal with resting than 3.5. In 3.5 the fighter's wanted to keep coming, but the wizards, especially at lower levels, had exhausted their three good spells and were stuck with wacking people with sticks.

Now now, saying "X edition sucks" isn't productive. Everyone has their own tastes, and not everyone can afford to buy a dozen new rulebooks.

Rather than punish the party for over-resting, consider a few things:

1. Time limit: Give them a time-sensitive objective. If they stop to rest after every fight, the kidnappers get away with the princess, etc.

2. Not sleepy: I don't know about you, but I find it hard to lay around for sixteen hours a day without doing something. Make 'em unable to take a full rest period more than once a day.

3. Wandering encounters: Unless they're using Rope Trick, they might have to worry about wandering monsters. If they do use it, just have a few more monsters added to replace the ones they killed. When they fight what is essentially the same group of gnolls three times, they might take the hint.

I heard this from another DM who had problems with his party using rope trick to hide and get their 8 hours sleep and new spells per day. What he did, was when the party was in the BBEG's castle and decided to rope trick sleep after burning a lot of spells, the DM had the BBEG send out his minions to sweep the castle with detect magic (would you not search your castle for intruders after hearing that half your defenders have been taken out?). After finding the aura of the rope trick, he stationed a large force of guards outside it, much to the surprise of the players when they woke up 8 hours later.

I also heard a great solution to hostage scenario problems. This DM had a problem with his players not caring about the fact that the hostage-takers were going to kill the hostages after a certain amount of time, confident that they could simply cast raise dead on the dead people afterward. The DM, rather annoyed at his player's nonchalance, had the hostage takers eliminate the hostages by casting flesh to stone on them, then rock to mud, followed by bless food and drink. Thus the party couldn't cast raise dead because there was no body. For that matter, they couldn't cast true resurrection either because the hostages weren't dead, merely transmuted to water form instead (which has by then probably evaporated). I thought that was golden genius.

This is actually a problem, the players live in a revive-happy world because permanent death is not fun; but when you have NPCS live under the same rules then it can kill reasonable plots (as in, it kills the intended athmosphere/flavor/urgency), or make it so that the GM needs to spend more time figuring out ways to make the plot foolproof than making an entertaining plot.

If they have access only to Raise Dead, mutilate the corpses of the hostages. If they have access to Resurrection, burn the corpses and scatter the ashes. If they have access to True Resurrection, make use of Trap The Soul and devilish bargains.

Make defenders prepare if players attack then retreat to rest. If the defenders realize they don't have much of a chance, have them pick up and move out, taking the artifact of doom with them or whatever. Monsters are typically set up in encounters that are suitable for the level of the party, but if they're given warning, they should come together to react to the danger together (social structures and intellect allowing). This way, the power level of spellcasters may balloon out to ridiculous proportions because they don't have more and more restricted resources as they go on... but then again, they're also dealing with everything they'd otherwise be forced to on one rest at once.