1 hour ago, Xcapobl said:Again - opinion alert - I want to add something, but this is in your corner, so to speak. When I get a new RPG, I always make my own (Excel) character record sheet. It helps me learn the system. As such I have the choice to add or remove what I want, as long as the relevant rules information is all there. There is nothing preventing anyone from making his or her own sheet, and adding a small subdivider here. "Soak 6 ( Brawn 4 + Armor 2)". That takes all the 'extra effort and bookkeeping' to a minimum, only changing these numbers as and when necessary.
And as for NPC's and creatures, we all know that GameMaster that has more post-its than pages in their books. Simply checking the adversaries once, and making a quick list what their subdividers are could be a simple part of session preparation, or a task you can set yourself to when ploughing through all your books. Expecially with all the quarantines and lockdowns. People who want to do this tend to have a bit more time for this now.
I've got a homebrew character sheet already, so it would be easy for me to add the notes like you're suggesting.
I glanced over some adversary examples in Terrinoth (my homebrew is fantasy with some steampunk). Brawn and Soak are nestled right against each other and it looks like the creators did have armor types in mind. All of the mounts, for example, have no armor with Brawn equal to Soak. The toughest dragon has 5 Brawn and 8 Soak, so that's easily 3 armor soak from thick scales. An Ironbound with a picture of a guy in full plate has Brawn 4 and Soak 6, which lines with Terrinoth's 2 soak for plate armor.