D&D 5E Long rest, interrupted, is that bad?

[Sacrosanct]

Like so many other things, it's going to come down to discretion. Mearls has said several times (and I'm pretty sure it's in the actual rules too), that sometimes the literal rule will not necessarily apply, and a common sense approach will need to be made as to what the DM thinks is fair.

 

[Umbran]

From a common sense stand point, I can't imagine penalizing players for an interrupted long rest. If they rest for 7 hours, then get in a fight for 10 minutes, then finish their rest, I think that's fine -- although I wouldn't allow them to recover resources expended during the rest.

If they get attacked in the middle of their long rest, and then just go back to sleep... they probably deserve to be interrupted again.

I mean, you're sacked out after a long day of killing things and taking their stuff... and someone wakes you up and tries to kill you! You figure it is then *safe* to just roll up in your blanket again for some more shuteye? Really? I mean, if nothing else, you're just going to leave the corpses there, right in your camp? *Whackwhackwhack...zap...whilhelmscream..... snnnooooorrrre*?