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There is a ton of advice for combat encounters, but what about social encounters?
1: What are your favorite tips, tricks, feats, spells, or other abilities for social encounters?
2: How have the remaster changes affected social encounters?
3: Are there any good options for characters that don't normally have good social skills?
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Most social encounters can be handled by one party member with good Charisma and maximum proficiency in Diplomacy or Deception. A second party member trained in Diplomacy or Deception is convenient as a backup for an absence or if the primary social person rolls low.
It also helps that the PLAYER of the charismatic character likes social interactions. I sometimes had a charismatic paladin or sorcerer in the party who upped charisma for class abilities but did not want to talk to people. Furthermore, in my Iron Gods campaign, the PCs needed to sell some contraband high technology, so they went to The Tarnished Halls black market. But the player of the diplomatic skald in the party was out sick, so they tried to be social without her. They forgot their mission among the distractions of the big city.
Locating the Tarnished Halls
Once a week, Captain Drakenda Kuldar sets up the Tarnished Halls at one of two dozen cooperative villages along the Seven Tears River. The day of the week varies randomly. She sends out advance notice of the location to several trustworthy people who regularly shop there or who serve as guides to visitors. The guides in Torch are in the Ropefist gang led by Garmen Ulreth and an occasional caravan master who does some smuggling. The city of Hajoth Hakados has several guides, including the alchemist witchwyrd Cythrul, who will send an assistant rather than going herself, and several members of the local pathfinder lodge. A DC 15 Diplomacy check at the shady taverns of Hajoth Hakados will also yield a lowlife guide.My own players went to Hajoth Hakados but the player of the diplomatic strix skald was out sick that day. My wife, the highly experienced player of the non-diplomatic dwarf gunslinger, stayed in character as an introvert, so she guided party to good locations such as the alchemist shop and the pathfinder lodge but did not interact herself. The other two PCs did not ask relevant questions. Sigh. I gave them the worst possible guide, a lazy bard named Giacomo. He offered to lead them to the Tarnished Halls that would meet in two days, but instead, they arranged to meet him at the small fishing village of South Bend in two days.
Moreover, I sometimes set up a situation where everyone has to be social. If the party is trying to bluff their way past the guards at the city gates, the guard will question every one of them. The expert in Deception can disguise people, but cannot speak for them. Thus, the brawny fighter with no social skills should not be disguised as a nobleman, because he cannot pull off the bluff. Instead, disguise him as the brawny bodyguard of the nobleman, a role closer to the truth with an easier Deception DC. On the other hand, if the fighter's background is Farmhand. then I would let the fighter use Farming Lore for bluffing that he is a farmer.
By the way, Hats of Disguise (called Masquerade Scarves in the Remaster) are the go-to magic item for when the party has to disguise themselves without enough warning to train in Deception.
A fighter with Farmhand background would also have a natural connection to the farmers encountered while adventuring. I would give a +2 circumstance bonus for Diplomacy with farmers. Appropriate backgrounds, such as Guard, Merchant, or Noble, would give that +2 circumstance bonus in other situations. Ordinary backgrounds are better for dealing with ordinary people. This is not in the rules as written, but the rules write down little about social encounters, so we GMs have to improvise.
Another factor in social situations is language. Not speaking the same language as the encountered NPC severely dampens the social interaction. So people who can afford the skill feat should take Multilingual. Arcane, divine, and occult spellcasters can cast Translate or Truespeech. Primal casters are out of luck unless they want to talk to plants or animals. Or instead make sure that the party covers many different languages among the extra languages granted by ancestry or Intelligence bonus.
As for how the Remaster changed social situations, I have not played under Remastered rules yet (I allow my players to chose Remastered options in my current Strength of Thousands campaign, but the setting is pre-Remaster). One difference I can imagine is that no-one is casting Detect Alignment for easy insight into people's motives.
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There is a ton of advice for combat encounters, but what about social encounters?
1: What are your favorite tips, tricks, feats, spells, or other abilities for social encounters?
2: How have the remaster changes affected social encounters?
3: Are there any good options for characters that don't normally have good social skills?
Social encounters can come in a lot of different forms...
For dungeon social encounters that can potentially lead to combat, I like Quick Coerce and Group Coerce. So if you find a hostile group that is fine talking a bit you can Coerce them to leave you be, or you can convince one of their members that the party is too strong for them and that they should run away.
For characters without good social skills that want to still be social, I like using a Familiar. The Familiar ends up adding your main attribute + your level as their total bonus for the skill you selected, so it's not impressive but it's very far from weak. And the overall cost is rather low (if your Class/Ancestry has access to Familiars).
About the Familiar, I like combining Skilled(Intimidation), Speech and Independant for a free Demoralize per round (with a low bonus, but free is free!). But it's not really about social encounters.
Otherwise, social encounters work as intended: High Charisma, high Charisma-based skills, a few skill feats here and there (but nothing mandatory) and you're set. The Silvertongue Mutagen is also to be considered at level 11+ as the bonus is really good and the duration should cover most social encounters.