CMD "...Any penalties to a creature's AC also apply to its CMD. A flat-footed creature does not add its Dexterity bonus to its CMD..."
blind "...The creature cannot see. It takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any)..."
penalty "Penalties are numerical values that are subtracted from a check or statistical score. Penalties do not have a type and most penalties stack with one another..."
Invisible "...Invisible creatures are visually undetectable. An invisible creature gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls against sighted opponents, and ignores its opponents' Dexterity bonuses to AC (if any) ..."
my DM has the opinion blinded creatures do not lose their dex-bonus on cmd, because it is no penalty. is he right?
does this mean, the dodge bonus also remains?
i'm a little bit confused because the rule don't clarify this.
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You should lose your DEX bonus to CMD if you're losing it to AC.
It represents your charwcter being unable to react in time, so this would apply equally to AC and CMD.
RAW all I can say is that I looked at the same text as jdontknow and came to the opposite conclusion.
raw you should lose in cowering and stunned your dex bonus on reflex and skill checks too. if blinded nothing.
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DM here
the way I read it:
Each character and creature has a Combat Maneuver Defense (or CMD) that represents its ability to resist combat maneuvers. A creature’s CMD is determined using the following formula:
CMD = 10 + Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier + special size modifierThe special size modifier for a creature’s Combat Maneuver Defense is as follows: Fine –8, Diminutive –4, Tiny –2, Small –1, Medium +0, Large +1, Huge +2, Gargantuan +4, Colossal +8. Some feats and abilities grant a bonus to your CMD when resisting specific maneuvers. A creature can also add any circumstance, deflection, dodge, insight, luck, morale, profane, and sacred bonuses to AC to its CMD. Any penalties to a creature’s AC also apply to its CMD. A flat-footed creature does not add its Dexterity bonus to its CMD.
lists explicitly what you gain, in question here:
+ Dexterity modifierand
Any penalties to a creature’s AC also apply to its CMDWhen a creature looses its dexterity bonus there is no question, since there is no Dexterity bonus (+0) it can't be factored into CMD
like in
The character is frozen in fear and can take no actions. A cowering character takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class and loses his Dexterity bonus (if any).But there is a 2nd wording like in
The creature cannot see. It takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and takes a –4 penalty on most Strength– and Dexterity-based skill checks and on opposed Perception skill checks.There it spells explicitly that it looses the dexterity bonus to AC
since CMD says:
10 + Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier + special size modifierand not: + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier to AC + special size modifier I don't think you are meant to loose your dexterity bonus in CMD
and not: + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier to AC + special size modifier I don't think you are meant to loose your dexterity bonus in CMD
It could be debatable if loosing your dex modifier to AC should count as penalty but in other rules penalties are always called explicitly that - penalties
By the same logic:
You apply your character’s Dexterity modifier to:
• Ranged attack rolls, including those for attacks made with bows, crossbows, throwing axes, and many ranged spell attacks like scorching ray or searing light.
• Armor Class (AC), provided that the character can react to the attack.
• Ref lex saving throws, for avoiding fireballs and other attacks that you can escape by moving quickly.
• Acrobatics, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Fly, Ride, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth checks
There is no "modifier to CMB" listed, so you have nothing to add. You can't add a non-existing modifier.
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Each character and creature has a Combat Maneuver Defense (or CMD) that represents its ability to resist combat maneuvers. A creature’s CMD is determined using the following formula:
CMD = 10 + Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier + special size modifier
The special size modifier for a creature’s Combat Maneuver Defense is as follows: Fine –8, Diminutive –4, Tiny –2, Small –1, Medium +0, Large +1, Huge +2, Gargantuan +4, Colossal +8. Some feats and abilities grant a bonus to your CMD when resisting specific maneuvers. A creature can also add any circumstance, deflection, dodge, insight, luck, morale, profane, and sacred bonuses to AC to its CMD. Any penalties to a creature’s AC also apply to its CMD. A flat-footed creature does not add its Dexterity bonus to its CMD.
So it's worth noting that Flat-Footed is NOT the same as losing your DEX-to-AC (while Flat-Footed you cannot take Immediate Actions or AoOs).
Note: In the origingal printing of the Core Rulebook you were Flat-Footed when Pinned. They changed this so that you only lose your DEX-bonus to AC* (likely so you could keep your Immediate Actions), but on reflection it's possible they also changed it so that your CMD isn't completely screwed over while Grappled if you're a DEX-based character.
Do after looking at how it would affect Grappled and Pinned characters I'll agree with the other side - you shouldn't lose your DEX-to-CMD.
That "any penalties that apply to a creatures AC also apply to its CMD" should mean that you lose Dex to CMD when you lose Dex to AC. Realistically, you would also lose STR to CMD when you are denied Dex or are flatfooted because you're strength is meaningless when you aren't aware enough to leverage it, but that would cripple CMD too much (and sometimes simply having huge muscles that are too big to easily grab ahold of is all the defense you need).
by RAW if you are blinded you will lose your dex bonus + dodge on AC but dex + dodge remain on CMD.
CMD is a new concept by pathfinder. i think they forgotten to delete all paragraphs 'to AC', cause in past only dex boni on AC were relevant and loseable. you couldn't lose your dex bonus on skills and saves in 3.5. the rule was on blinded, stunned, cowering and flat footed the same: 'loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any)'
thats why there is no 'on AC and CMD' paragraph in the entire rulebook. thats why there are only 'penalties on DEX' in the CMD rule. in 3.5 there was no need for 'ignore' or 'lose' to CMD. fewer rules fewer problems in interpretation.
the best example is the dodge feat. you lose the bonus on AC when you lose dex on AC. all dodge boni you get on AC you can add to CMD. but no explicit rule all dodge you lose on AC will be lost on CMD too.
i think it is a design bug. pathfinder don't want you to lose your reflex dex bonus if you're stunned/cowering and retain dex + dodge on CMD if you're blinded.
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Each character and creature has a Combat Maneuver Defense (or CMD) that represents its ability to resist combat maneuvers. A creature’s CMD is determined using the following formula:
CMD = 10 + Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier + special size modifier + miscellaneous modifiers
Special Size Modifier
The special size modifier for a creature’s Combat Maneuver Defense is as follows:
Fine –8, Diminutive –4, Tiny –2, Small –1, Medium +0, Large +1, Huge +2, Gargantuan +4, Colossal +8.
Some feats and abilities grant a bonus to your CMD when resisting specific maneuvers.
Miscellaneous Modifiers
A creature can also add any circumstance, deflection, dodge, insight, luck, morale, profane, and sacred bonuses to AC to its CMD. Any penalties to a creature’s AC also apply to its CMD. A flat-footed creature does not add its Dexterity bonus to its CMD.
Common Terms states
A dodge bonus improves armor class (and sometimes Reflex saves) resulting from physical skill at avoiding blows and other ill effects. Dodge bonuses are never 1 usually not granted by spells or magic items. Any situation or effect (except wearing armor) that negates a character’s Dexterity bonus also negates any dodge bonuses the character may have. Dodge bonuses stack with all other bonuses to AC, even other dodge bonuses. Dodge bonuses apply against touch attacks.
So if a Character loses their Dex bonus to AC, they also lose any dodge bonuses to AC.
So in the case of CMD, if you lose your Dex due to Blind, FF'ed, etc., you also lose Dodge.
For example, if you become Blinded, you would lose any Dex bonus as well as any Dodge bonus to your CMD. And furthermore, you take an untyped -2 to AC, and therefore an untyped -2 to CMD.
RAW you would lose blinded your dex on AC not to CMD and your dodge to both of them. confusing.
that's why they should delete the 'to AC' in the blinded rule. everything would be clear as in 3.5
You apply any Dodge bonuses you have to AC. And you apply all of those Dodge bonuses to AC to calculate your CMD. If you lose your Dodge bonus to AC, you have no dodge bonus to AC to contribute to calculating your CMD. So any Dodge bonus lost to your AC also causes you to calculate your CMD with no Dodge bonus.
Combat Expertise causes you to take a -1 to your Attack and CMB and provides you a +1 Dodge to AC, and therefore you would calculate your CMD with the +1 Dodge bonus.
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Another way of looking at it:
CMD = 10 + Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier + special size modifier + miscellaneous modifiers (circumstance, deflection, dodge, insight, luck, morale, profane, and sacred bonuses to AC)
So if you lose your Dex Mod for any reason, you also lose your Dodge bonus to AC, and you would not be able to add this into calculating your CMD.
You would have to do a similar recalculation of your CMD if you lost your Morale, Sacred, or Luck bonuses to AC.
It could be debatable if loosing your dex modifier to AC should count as penalty but in other rules penalties are always called explicitly that - penalties
Any penalties to a creature’s AC also apply to its CMD. A flat-footed creature does not add its Dexterity bonus to its CMD.
Penalty
Penalties are numerical values that are subtracted from a check or statistical score. Penalties do not have a type and most penalties stack with one another.
Bonus
Bonuses are numerical values that are added to checks and statistical scores. Most bonuses have a type, and as a general rule, bonuses of the same type are not cumulative (do not “stack”)—only the greater bonus granted applies.
so, to lose a bonus is a penalty, am i right?
It could be debatable if loosing your dex modifier to AC should count as penalty but in other rules penalties are always called explicitly that - penaltiesAny penalties to a creature’s AC also apply to its CMD. A flat-footed creature does not add its Dexterity bonus to its CMD.
Penalty
Penalties are numerical values that are subtracted from a check or statistical score. Penalties do not have a type and most penalties stack with one another.
Bonus
Bonuses are numerical values that are added to checks and statistical scores. Most bonuses have a type, and as a general rule, bonuses of the same type are not cumulative (do not “stack”)—only the greater bonus granted applies.
so, to lose a bonus is a penalty, am i right?
I don't think it's considered a "penalty" per se, I think it's just considered that you lost your bonus for whatever reason. Penalties usually don't have a type, as you quoted here, so that would be things like having the Shaken/Sickened debuffs stacking (as opposed to overlapping) for a net total of -4 to attack, saves, skills, etc.
Also:
A positive modifier is called a bonus, and a negative modifier is called a penalty.
You apply any Dodge bonuses you have to AC. And you apply all of those Dodge bonuses to AC to calculate your CMD. If you lose your Dodge bonus to AC, you have no dodge bonus to AC to contribute to calculating your CMD. So any Dodge bonus lost to your AC also causes you to calculate your CMD with no Dodge bonus.Completely correct, but the discussion is not if you recalculate your CMD for lost dodge bonuses.
The question is: Does losing your Dex bonus to AC mean you lose your Dex modifier which is factored into the CMD.
And as a side Question: does losing your Dex bonus to AC mean you lose ALL dodge bonuses (not only the one from the Dodge feat which explicitly states that you lose the benefits of that feat if you lose your Dex bonus to AC)
CMD = 10 + Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier + special size modifier + miscellaneous modifiers (circumstance, deflection, dodge, insight, luck, morale, profane, and sacred bonuses to AC)
So if you lose your Dex Mod for any reason, you also lose your Dodge bonus to AC, and you would not be able to add this into calculating your CMD.
Completely agree, if you lose your Dex Mod dodge bonuses are gone and you have to recalculate your CMD taking the lost dodge bonus and the missing Dex modifier into account.
Again, I do not debate that this happens when you lose your Dex Bonus (like in cowering) but my reading is that this does not apply when you lose your Dex bonus to AC.
If it would apply in this case why are there multiple special rules which explicitly address the case where you lose your Dodge bonus to AC and in addition something applies which should be the normal rule in your interpretation.
For instance flat footed which explicitly mentions Dex bonus to CMD and the Dodge Feet which explicitly mentions that you lose the benefits from the Feat (1 Dodge bonus) when you lose Dex to AC.
@Malcolm666
Not the way I see it, penalties...
Losing your Dex Mod to AC is not actually a numerical change in Dex to 0 Mod per se, it's more like a "Condition". Remember the age-old argument of "Can being Flat-footed actually increase your AC if you have a negative Dex modifier?" Most players will generally have a positive Dex Mod because they know how important Dex is. But there are plenty of monsters with -1, -2, or even -3 modifiers to Dex. Causing them to "lose their Dex Mod to AC" does not "improve" their Dex Mod to 0, thus netting a +1, +2, or +3 to their AC.
This is frequently seen in Huge-size+ dragons, who typically have an 8 or 9 in Dex, resulting in a -1 Dex Mod. When you cause a Dragon to lose their Dex Mod to AC, or become Flat-footed, their AC does not improve by 1 due to having a 0 Dex Mod, right?
So when you "Lose your Dex Mod to AC", think of this like a Condition where you no longer get to apply your Dex Bonus (if any) to factor in your AC. And yes, when you lose your Dex Mod to AC, you lose it to your CMD as well. When factoring your CMD, your Dex and Dodge bonuses represent your ability to outright avoid or partially move out of the way (and thus negate the effect of the maneuver) of the Bull Rush/Trip/Disarm/etc.
So when you "Lose your Dex to AC", this represents a condition where your opponent can attack, bull rush, trip, or disarm you without you being aware of the attack/maneuver, such as while you're blind or while they're invisible, or while you are stunned or cowering.
So when you "Lose your Dex to AC", this represents a condition where your opponent can attack, bull rush, trip, or disarm you without you being aware of the attack/maneuver, such as while you're blind or while they're invisible, or while you are stunned or cowering.
Clarification: So when you "Lose your Dex to AC", this represents a condition where your opponent can attack, bull rush, trip, or disarm you without you being aware or otherwise being incapable to react to the attack/maneuver, such as while you're blind or while they're invisible, or while you are stunned or cowering.
Also, the reason I bring up the "Does Flat-Footed increase your AC if you have a Negative Dex Mod" argument is because this is essentially the same argument for CMD. Ask your GM: "If I cause a huge-sized dragon with a -1 Dex Mod to become Flat-Footed, does that mean I increase his CMD by 1?" The answer is No, because it represents a condition where any bonuses that the dragon may have had from Dex are negated.
So if you lose your Dex Mod to AC, and therefore lose your Dodge Bonus to AC, why does the Dodge Bonus to AC get removed from CMD while the Dex Mod bonus to CMD remains? Seems a little illogical to me.
"Lose Dex to AC" is a penalty with a non-fixed per person/situation value. That same penalty gets applied to CMD. It's pretty largely recognized with every character sheet that I can find since 2014 having a FFCMD section that doesn't include Dex and Dodge.
Well, throw this on the small mountain of examples of bad writing then. It's supposed to be: If you lose your Dex bonus to AC, you also lose your Dex to CMD.
By my interpretation this does not mean you lose your dodge bonus when you only lose your Dex bonus to AC
There is no difference between "dexterity bonus" and "dexterity bonus to AC"!
The two phrases are intended as the exact same thing for all rules. It's been argued more than enough in this thread. There are only two instances in the CRB where the concept of losing dexterity to something other than AC appear in the written text, and one was edited in years later (and thus they had only very limited space). It makes no sense to have a rule use the phrase "Any situation that denies you your Dexterity bonus" when there is (at the time of reading) only a single such situation in the game, especially if there are plenty of other situations that are way more common and use the very similar term "dexterity bonus to AC". Also, the Armor Class Modifiers table on pg. 195 has a footnote for "Cowering" that says "The defender loses any Dexterity bonus to AC.", which should make it pretty clear that the terms are used interchangably by the writers.I really wish people would stop treating the CRB as a legal document. It's not. It's not written to be 100% loophole proof because otherwise the company can get sued for billions or a murderer gets free or something like that. It's written by humans for humans, and not by lawyers for lawyers.
Dev comments like this (from a guy who back in the day was "a critical part of the design team") and FAQs like this and this show that very similar phrases are supposed to be mechanically identical.
I think this because there is a specific rule for the Dodge Feat (...)
There is no reason to include this sentence if "lose your Dex bonus to AC" would affect all dodge bonuses
There is a reason: Reminding the players. Pathfinder and especially the CRB is full of uncessessary reminder text. That the Wizard's Bonus Feat class feature says that the feats are in addition to the ones gained from level doesn't mean bonus feat class features without that text replace the normal feats.
Why is there a specific rule for flat-footed when according to your reading the general rule is that "lose Dex bonus to AC (if any)" == "lose Dex bonus to CMD (if any)"
Same reason as above. Why do most options granting anturla attacks say how they interact with manufactured weapons when the whole thing is in the natural attacks rules? Reminder text. Why does Haste say "it affects the creature’s jumping distance as normal for increased speed"? Reminder text, and even called out as such by the use of "as normal".
Most bonuses to AC are also added to CMD. Penalties to AC are also added to CMD. The possibility of denying dex bonus to CMD is explicitly stated. If something denies a bonus to AC, I say the only reasonable reading is that it also denies that bonus to CMD. I think it's indubious that being denied the dex bonus to AC denies any dodge bonus to CMD, and denying the dodge bonus to CMD but not the dex bonus to CMD would be ridiculous.
Not everything that affects AC also affects CMD, and especially not vice versa, but if something is added to both, affecting that thing affects both.
Everybody knows that all lawyers are Asmodeus' minions in disguise. That's why you should make that contract with a devil without outside legal help. They're just working for the devils anyway, you don't need them.
It's not that they didn't care what they were writing, it's that they frequently and openly state that they don't write every full repetition wherever it's relevant and instead try to link rules together. This is what we are saying with getting Dex to AC and to CMD is tied together: when you lose one, you lose the other.
As for max Dex to AC, that's how I've always ran it because of the link but there isn't a RAW for this either way, only that there is no second explicit similarly linking mechanism and there is the explicit only use of AC where Max Dex bonus is made.
There are also rules for interpreting those rules based on the contexts of how they were written, which multiple of us have tried to explain.
And no, you aren't denied Dex to attacks, save, or non Dex/Dodge bonus to either AC/CMD as that are the two defenses specifically mentioned. There are cases where you can just be straight up denied your reflex save (being held/petrified or otherwise helpless) at all, and they overlap with also being denied Dex, but that isn't a feature of being denied Dex, just a worse effect. In any case, you don't lose your dex to attack, nothing is making you waive that blade less quickly, but there's the chance you're doing so in the wrong place, which is covered by concealment and needing to target the correct square.
just one question: following this max Dex to AC due to armor is also applying to CMD, right?
Stat block indicate that's not the case. I actually checked that before I made my last post, and was a bit surprised. Stat blocks aren't always correct, but in lack of anything explicit or even indictive about the topic, I'd go with that. For example, the Star Archon has dex 19 (+4 bonus), and wears a full plate. The dex bonus to AC is +1, but the CMD of 42 only works out with a +4 dex bonus being included.
I only checked three stat block, however, I can look at more if that's desired.
I really wish people would stop treating the CRB as a legal document.Well, it's the rules of the World we play in and it is all we have (that and all the expansion books, forum threads and house rules :D ).
Believe me, I really wish the CRB was written as a genuine rules document and not mainly a bunch of guidelines. But when I see stuff like that the polymorph rules RAW don't apply to Wild Shape because they only talk about polymorph spells, or that RAW Simple Weapon Proficiency removes any and all penalties form attacks with such weapons, I can only conclude that you have to use common sense.
There is no difference between "dexterity bonus" and "dexterity bonus to AC"!Cool, ok calm down. As GM I like that. Worse weapon finesse when blind, worse reflex safe, no combat expertise, no total defense, no fighting defensively.
I think you misunderstood me. The proper term is "denied dexterity bonus to Armor Class", every variant is just a shortened version. The dexterity bonus is only ever denied to AC and CMD, never to anything else. All options that key of such stuff (e.g. Sneak Attack) are triggered by any variant of the phrase. And while we're at it, the appendix "(whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not)" is always true, rule options with and without that appendix behave exactly the same, because it's (once again) reminder text.
There are cases where you can just be straight up denied your reflex save (being held/petrified or otherwise helpless) at all...
This incorrect. There are no statements anywhere in the rules (that I am aware of) where a character is denied a reflex save. Certain conditions might set their effective dex to 0, resulting in a -5 to the save instead of whatever other bonus/penalty they are getting based on dex, but they still get to make that saving throw roll.
There are cases where you can just be straight up denied your reflex save (being held/petrified or otherwise helpless) at all...This incorrect. There are no statements anywhere in the rules (that I am aware of) where a character is denied a reflex save. Certain conditions might set their effective dex to 0, resulting in a -5 to the save instead of whatever other bonus/penalty they are getting based on dex, but they still get to make that saving throw roll.
I don't know about you, but if I was tied to a tree, someone cast the wall of X spell, and I some how nat 20'd my way to being no longer tied to the tree and out of wall, I'd think there's a perfectly valid reason to deny anything with a(n effective) 0 Dex score their saving throw.
I've heard that's an eco-terrorist thing. You drive spikes into trees where logging is about to happen, and when the loggers try to cut down a spiked tree, their saws get destroyed when they hit the spike.Magical Items: Magic items always get saving throws. A magic item’s Fortitude, Reflex, and Will save bonuses are equal to 2 + half its caster level.If I stick your magic sword into the tree it will get a reflex save :D
If they use a magic chainsaw then the chainsaw gets a save too.
I don't know about you, but if I was tied to a tree, someone cast the wall of X spell, and I some how nat 20'd my way to being no longer tied to the tree and out of wall, I'd think there's a perfectly valid reason to deny anything with a(n effective) 0 Dex score their saving throw.There are cases where you can just be straight up denied your reflex save (being held/petrified or otherwise helpless) at all...This incorrect. There are no statements anywhere in the rules (that I am aware of) where a character is denied a reflex save. Certain conditions might set their effective dex to 0, resulting in a -5 to the save instead of whatever other bonus/penalty they are getting based on dex, but they still get to make that saving throw roll.
I don't disagree that there are situations where it might make sense to deny a save. But there are no rules in which a save is denied - and even a FAQ to the contrary.
If you were a GM and denied me a ref save in your example, it wouldn't bother me. But you could just as easily narrate that
* I was able to move around the tree, still tied to it, to be protected from the spell.
* Something about the spell caused several large branches to break off and provided cover for me from the spell.
* A divine light shone down on me and protected me.
* etc.
Do whatever you want when you are the GM. But, by the rules, I get my save.
So if pinning your opponent means you lose your dex to AC, does your CMD also lose dex, making the check to break the pin vs. your CMD get easier?
Yes. To quote myself from the thread I had linked in my first post, I can totally see how someone e.g. pinning you to a wall makes it actually easier to slip out compared to when someone has their arms around you, even if my movement is otherwise more restricted.
To be fair, most things that are good at grappling have incredibly small dex bonuses if any at all. The exception being monks/brawlers, other PC classes, and some of the great cats that have grab features (but they also want you to spend your action breaking out so they can just pounce+rake>second rake you again).
Not trying to flex, but I've pinned a lot of people in wrestling. As the one doing the pinning, with very few exceptions your movement is not inhibited, you definitely retain your dex bonus, because 1) you can circle/move around the target you're pinning while maintaining the hold, and 2) you can release the pin at any time you want. There are certain holds where this is not true however, such as cradles and guillotines. But if you're doing Head-and-arm, Japanese Wizzer, arm-bars, butchers, 1/4-1/2-3/4 nelsons, etc., your movement while pinning is not inhibited. You can circle around the target as much as you want, or release the hold near-instantaneously.
Not trying to flex, but I've pinned a lot of people in wrestling. As the one doing the pinning, with very few exceptions your movement is not inhibited, you definitely retain your dex bonus, because 1) you can circle/move around the target you're pinning while maintaining the hold, and 2) you can release the pin at any time you want. There are certain holds where this is not true however, such as cradles and guillotines. But if you're doing Head-and-arm, Japanese Wizzer, arm-bars, butchers, 1/4-1/2-3/4 nelsons, etc., your movement while pinning is not inhibited. You can circle around the target as much as you want, or release the hold near-instantaneously.Maybe, but we're talking about what the game rules are, not criticizing the realism of that game.
In wrestling, you pin someone on their backs, or supine. But in this game, you can pin prone or supine, and if you're pinning someone who is prone, you have full control to jump around them, flipping from side to side almost at will, and with almost no resistance from the target who is pinned prone, even if the prone pinned target is an experienced grappler.
I think whomever wrote these rules for grappling was not an experienced grappler irl, because the rules don't resemble reality at all.
Also, this REALLY falls short of reality when considering a multiple-tentacled Large+ pinner loses it's dexterity while pinning a medium (or smaller) target. At least the gargantuan-sized Kraken has the Tenacious Grapple (Ex) ability to thwart this. Apparently, RAW, large+ Octopi and large+ Kraken Caller Druids weighing 4,000lbs become super-ripe targets for Sneak Attacks whenever they grapple/pin small/medium targets weighing 8-60lbs.
This is a prime candidate for house rules.
To be fair, your pinned target can't do much but try to break out from you (and since the penalty to dex from the grappled condition doesn't apply to either side when attempting to break the grapple, we could argue that you aren't denied dex while pinned against specifically the person trying to break out, but that's a different argument), but the denied dex effect is to me meant to matter more about not the dude you have pinned, but his friend having an easier target to hit since you are stuck holding a dude.