Questions about nation specials & heroes

[Darkrhyno18]

Hey guys, it seems like every few months I start playing Dom 3 again and there are always new things to learn.

Recently I started reading some of Baalz' guides (great by the way) and have come across some questions.

1st: is there any way to know the special abilities of a nation? For example, EA Arco's philosophers gain +3 research in a -3 sloth scale. It does say the philosophers work better in a slothful dominion in the manual but not in the actual nation description, that is kinda a pain. Same goes for Agartha and the Golem Cult. The +50% hp or whatever they get...I cant find that info anywhere. So is there a list somewhere that would let someone know all of these hidden intricacies? I am sure there are others besides these 2 nations?

2nd: National heroes are a nice flavor to the game. Is there a list of all of them hidden away somewhere? What influences them showing up? I am assuming the luck scale might help but not sure?

3rd: Kind of off topic of the others. How exactly does spell penetration work? I get the formula easy enough {10+DRN+(skill in path)/2} But I see it being raved about with stacking a rune smasher, void eye, and spell focus for the +5 penetration. Now is that added to the end of the formula so you get a +5 to your final number, or is it added to the "10" within the formula? On top of that, is 5 really that large of a number, is it really worth it?

Thanks!