I think I'm Caster Level illiterate.

[Snarfy]

I need a bit of help understanding CL, as it pertains to mobs and their damned dispelling.

In my small armada of characters is a Monk 4/Cleric 3/Sacred Fist 10/Hospitaler 6 which I very much enjoy playing. He has the practiced spell-caster (cleric) feat, so by my reckoning his caster level currently adds up like this: 3 from Cleric + 8 from Sacred Fist + 4 from Hospitaler + 4 from practiced spell caster = 19 (I think I calculated that right). He's also sitting at around 27 wisdom.

While cruising around the pirate caves in Ulgoths beard, I ran into one of the pirate-bards, which I would guess-timate to be around CR 18-20, and man... in a matter of 4 or 5 rounds he hit my character with two(greater?) dispels and stripped away 8 of my 10 wards. At least the dispels aren't spammed every round like they used to be, but one is really all it took(much less two) to put my character in some trouble(even against a single mob that was 3 or 4 levels lower than him).

My questions here are:
1. How does the caster level math work in this particular instance?
2. Are there any spells, perhaps like 'spell resistance', or tricks that can help with preventing getting debuff'd?
3. Will I be punching myself in the groin in RL later on for choosing this mix of classes? (I think he ends at caster level 25 by level 30[monk 4/cleric 6/SF 10/Hosp 10]).

When I made the character on nwndb, I didn't even bother to look at caster progression, but now that I do, I cant help but think: ouch, ouch, ouch.

[Steve]

Number 3. And, CL 25 builds just simply need to avoid any mobs that cast dispel.

It's a new morning on BGTSCC!

[metaquad4]

Sending buffed summons in to eat up enemy dispels works on the AI.

[Rudolph]

Hospitaler 6 only gets you 3 CL. In any case, there are ways of getting 30 CL on similar builds thanks to Hierophant Spellpower. E.g. like this (race can be changed, and class splits as well depending on what combat style you want to prioritize):
http://nwn2db.com/build/?246374

[Snarfy]

Hospitaler 6 only gets you 3 CL.

D'oh, I didn't notice the difference between class descriptions here and on the builder(which says progression at 2, 3, 4, 6, etc). That bring his CL down to 24, yeowch. Heirophant is an interesting thought, but I don't think quite it fits the concept I had in mind(the idea was him being a priest of the Shining Hand). But, now that I look down the list of potential choices for other cleric friendly PRC's(BFZ, Dragonslayer, Stormsinger, Master Alchemist, Silverstar, Warpriest), either they don't fit the concept either, or they don't give full caster progression.

CL 25 builds just simply need to avoid any mobs that cast dispel.

Fortunately, the character leans towards pacifism. In reality though, I am finding it extremely difficult to play a pacifist on a server that requires you to constantly fight things while travelling, as well as kill things to get any significant amount of experience(even with my questing addiction).

Sending buffed summons in to eat up enemy dispels works on the AI.

That's a good idea, will keep it in mind.

Either way, CL 24 is a bit daunting, and I think I'm now leaning towards RcRing out the hospitaler and replacing it with cleric. Thanks for the feedback.