Why was the paladin caster level nerfed?

[Mordante]

The good thing about the Tier system and character optimization is that they are virtually unknown outside of this and maybe one or two other websites. Most people don't run roleplaying games as an Excel exercise.

[Darg]

Back on topic, I have a question related to caster level.
How does a full casting PRC interacts with paladin casting?
Say paladin 6 / PRC 10. I think it casts as a paladin 16, but with a caster level of 13 (3+10), but always had a doubt about my ruling.

PrCs generally will say something to the effect of "as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class." Because of this it's as if you are progressing in the spellcasting class. So your paladin 6/PRC 10 would cast as a paladin with a level of 16, but generally have a caster level of 8. Some classes ignore this like greenstar adept or hierophant, but those are the exception, not the rule.

We could also get into how if the spellcasting progressing class feature doesn't say it increases your caster level it doesn't, but most groups play/rule that it does anyway so it wouldn't really be helpful and would add confusion.