TL;DR
Pathfinder 2e asks you to track more during play than D&D: conditions with values, three actions, hero points, modes of play. But most of that only lives until the end of the scene, and your VTT or character sheet handles it better than your notes. Your notes are for the story: names, decisions, discoveries, changes from the adventure, plus effects that carry over to the next session, like drained and doomed. During play, write down only three things and fill in the rest afterward. If you record the session, you don’t have to write during play at all.
Round three. The fighter is frightened 2, the wizard is taking persistent fire damage, the cleric just spent a hero point, and the druid wants to know what her Recall Knowledge check told her about this thing.
And that’s when you remember you never wrote down the name of the merchant the party made a deal with an hour ago.
Hold on, let me just write that down…
A lot happens at the same time at a Pathfinder 2e table, and every pause like that breaks the momentum. Here’s how to take PF2e notes without stopping the game, and what’s actually worth writing down.
How PF2e Notes Differ From D&D
If you came over from D&D 5e, you’ve felt the difference. Pathfinder 2e gives you more tools and more numbers, which means more temptation to write everything down:
- Three actions instead of an action and a bonus action. Combat gets more granular: Strike, Step, Raise a Shield, the multiple attack penalty. It’s great to play, but nobody needs a turn-by-turn combat log next week.
- Conditions with values. Frightened 2, clumsy 1, drained 1, wounded 1. Most fade within a minute, but some carry over into the next days of play.
- Hero points. One more resource to keep an eye on during the session.
- Three modes of play: encounter, exploration, and downtime. Each has its own pace and its own details you’re tempted to record.
- Published Adventure Paths. Many groups play Paizo’s adventures, so the GM has to remember not only what happened, but where their game went off-book.
So the problem isn’t that there’s nothing to write down. It’s that you can write down too much, and then the game stops.
The State vs. Story Rule
Split everything that happens at the table into two parts:
State lives until the end of the scene. Story lives until the end of the campaign. Only story goes in your notes.
- State: HP, conditions, actions this round, spell slots, focus points, initiative. That’s mechanics. Your VTT (like the PF2e system in Foundry VTT) or character sheets (like Pathbuilder 2e) track it best. When the scene ends, most of it resets.
- Story: who the NPCs are, how they feel about the party, what the party decided, learned, and promised. You need this next session, next month, and next year.
There’s one exception: effects that survive the night. Move those into your notes, or nobody will remember them next session.
What to Always Write Down
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| NPC names and attitudes | In PF2e, attitudes are conditions: hostile, unfriendly, indifferent, friendly, helpful. If the party made an NPC friendly, you need to remember it |
| Decisions and promises | Who they owe, who they made a deal with, who they let go |
| Discoveries | What the party learned, including from Recall Knowledge: creature weaknesses, the history of places |
| Lasting effects | Drained and doomed only drop by 1 after a full night’s rest, so they often carry over to the next session. Curses and diseases go here too |
| Important items | What was found, who took what, what’s invested (characters can only invest a limited number of items) |
| Changes from the adventure | An NPC killed earlier than the book expects, a location the party skipped. Without this, an Adventure Path quickly drifts away from your game |
| Where you stopped | Mode of play, time of day, and if the session ended mid-dungeon, the party’s resources: HP, spent spells, and focus points |
GM tip: skip the hero points
Under the PF2e rules, every player starts each session with 1 hero point again. There’s no need to carry them over between sessions, which is one less thing in your notes.
During Play: the Three-Line Rule
During the session, write down only what you’ll definitely forget and can’t reconstruct later. That’s usually three things:
- New names, especially the ones you made up on the spot.
- Decisions and promises: a word or two, enough to remember the context later.
- Where you stopped: the last line you write before the session ends.
Everything else waits until after the game. Keep it short, even a few words: “Velka — friendly, owes 50 gp.” That’s enough to expand it into a full note later.
GM tip: save notes for the pauses
Don’t write during a player’s turn. The best moments for notes are snack breaks, the end of a fight, and the switch to exploration mode. Your players won’t even notice you were writing.
After the Session: a 10-Minute Template
Right after the session, while it’s fresh, expand your three lines with this template. It’s based on our session recap template, with what matters specifically in PF2e:
SESSION [number] · [adventure / chapter]
THE SESSION IN ONE LINE
[Who did what, and how it ended.]
KEY SCENES
• [Scene]: [what happened and what changed]
NPCS AND ATTITUDES
• [Name]: [friendly / unfriendly / ...] — [why]
DISCOVERIES
• [What the party learned]
LASTING EFFECTS
• [Character]: [drained 1, curse, etc.]
ITEMS
• [Item] → [who has it], [invested?]
CHANGES FROM THE ADVENTURE
• [What went off-book]
WHERE WE STOPPED
[Mode, time of day, resources if mid-dungeon]Example
Session 12 · The Drowned Monastery
In one line: the party went down into the drowned monastery to find a missing novice and learned it isn’t the cult holding him, but the abbot himself.
NPCs: Sister Velka — friendly (the party saved her from a water spirit). Abbot Orim — hostile after the rogue stole his key.
Discoveries: Recall Knowledge revealed that the water spirits are weak to cold iron.
Lasting effects: the fighter is drained 1 after a bite.
Items: crypt key → the rogue.
Changes: the party skipped the library, so they don’t have the abbot’s journal.
Where we stopped: outside the crypt door, at night. The wizard has two spell slots left, the cleric one focus point.
Ten minutes of work, and next session you know exactly where to start, even if three weeks have passed.
Recording the Session: Works in Any System
The easiest way to never pause for notes is to not take them at all. If the session is recorded, you can go back to it later, and the three-line rule becomes a zero-line rule.
How Kazkar handles this
Kazkar works with any tabletop RPG played over Discord voice, and Pathfinder is no exception. Type /summon when the session starts and /banish when it ends, and Kazkar turns the session into a chronicle and adds new NPCs, places, factions, and items to your campaign wiki, linked together.
To be clear about the limits: Kazkar captures the story, not the mechanics. HP, conditions, and initiative stay in your VTT, exactly where the State vs. Story rule says they belong.
If you’d rather keep notes yourself, here are other ways to remember what happened last session. And if you’re curious how other systems approach combat, compare with our breakdown of Lancer vs. D&D.
So the next time someone mentions the merchant’s name in the middle of a fight, you won’t have to say “hold on, let me write that down.” The game keeps going.
Play the round. Write it down later.
Want your notes to write themselves? Add Kazkar to your Discord: 10 free hours of recording, no card needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best way to take notes in Pathfinder 2e?
Separate mechanics from story. Track conditions, HP, and resources in your VTT or on character sheets, and use your notes for names, NPC attitudes, decisions, discoveries, items, and lasting effects. Write only a few words during play, and do full notes right after the session.
Should I track conditions in my notes?
Only the ones that survive the night. Most conditions, like frightened or off-guard, are gone within a few rounds. Drained and doomed only drop by 1 after a full night’s rest, so those are worth writing down, along with curses and diseases.
What should a PF2e session recap include?
A short summary of the session, the key scenes, NPCs and their attitudes toward the party, discoveries, lasting effects, important items, changes from the adventure, and where you stopped, including the party’s resources if you ended mid-dungeon.
Does Kazkar work with Pathfinder?
Yes. Kazkar records any tabletop RPG played over Discord voice, including Pathfinder, and turns the session into a chronicle and campaign wiki entries. It doesn’t track mechanics like HP or conditions.
What tools do people use for Pathfinder 2e campaigns?
Foundry VTT with the PF2e system is a common choice for combat and conditions, Pathbuilder 2e for character sheets, and Archives of Nethys for rules. For the campaign’s story, you still need a separate place for notes or a wiki.
Let Kazkar keep the chronicle
Kazkar joins your Discord voice channel, records the session, and turns it into a narrative chronicle and lore wiki — automatically. Free to start, no card required.
Add Kazkar to DiscordDanylo
Co-founder, Kazkar
Danylo is a co-founder of Kazkar and a tabletop RPG player and GM. He writes about running games, tracking campaign lore, and turning messy session notes into stories worth keeping.
Meet the Kazkar team →