What does do you roll for Overcome, Boost/Hinder and Recover

When taking an Action, you always roll three dice: One from a Power, one from a Quality, and one from your Status. If it doesn't tell you what the effect die is for an Action, then it uses the Mid die by default.

The same applies for Overcome/Boost/Hinder. Recover is a special case, as you normally don't die any dice at all for it.

Recover can't be used in an action scene unless an Ability says to Recover.

If you don't have a power that applies you can roll a D4 in your dice pool
every comic hero has luck and sometimes thing that don't make sense just happen

If you don't have a quality that applies you can roll a D4 in your dice pool
however these are your powers and every hero understands their own powers differently you don't strictly need Ranged Combat to attack someone way over there- you might use Science to control your powers as you are a scientist and everything can be defined by science or possibly Magic Lore because you are a wizard (Harry) My own hero shoots people with Self Discipline because he needs his will power to control and focus the cosmic energy inside of him

Edit- In the latest Letters Page Christopher and Adam talk about this, only they use the example of hiding from people with out using Stealth quality

Note that many Abilities allow reactions. Reactions are always one die or no die. They're never the 3dice of an in-turn action.

Can you site a reference for this? Looking in Gameplay Guide this is not stated under the Reaction section (that I can find).

I'm also a little confused by some abilities and boost. For example Absolute Zero's Modular Realignment says "... you may Boost using Cold." Does it mean you have to use Cold and can pick a Quality that works and use your current Status (and take the Mid)?

I don't recall if the starter kit does but the core rulebook does on page 29

Modular Realignment is Thermodynamics in the core book and is a reaction.  So you roll just that one die for Cold.  The original ability is part of the Accident power source and is called Change in Circumstances originally. 

Reading through the book, because Reactions sometimes say "roll single X die" or similar, I read those as exceptions to the general 3-die-pool proceedure, and thus that any Reaction NOT mentioning a single die stuck with the normal proceedure. 

I'm not finding any reactions in the book (barring dice adjustment reactions or form changer/modular ones for quick switching) that would involve rolling a full dice pool. Could you elaborate on what reactions use the normal dice pool procedure? I can't find any myself, but I'd like to know which ones involve rolling a full dice pool.

It's not so much that a Reaction says to use multiple dice, it's that I can't find (in the Starter Kit) where it explicitly says "Reactions aren't like all other rolls where you use three dice".

Example:

Wraith's Smoke Bombs - "When you would take damage, you may Defend using Gadgets" --- does this mean JUST the Gadgets d8? Unclear, so look up Defend on p. 13 of Starter Kit rules - "... In a Defend action, you describe what your hero is doing to avoid or reduce an Attack, Assemble your dice pool, roll those dice, and note your result..." --- nothing in there indicates that Defend is a special kind of roll that just uses one die. In fact is uses terms like "dice pool" and "roll those dice" which would indicate multiple dice.

I'm not trying to be difficult or contrarian, just trying to get a handle on the rules. Appreciate the help, might just be something that wasn't clear in the Starter Kit and they clarrified in the full rules...

OK, the Reactions that involve rolling are a single die, the ones that don't mention a single die mostly work otherwise, and that's what I was remembering.

But the fact that it makes specific mention of the "single die" each time makes it seem like an exception being noted, rather than a general rule. 

After the starter Kit, a lot of minor things were ironed out...

What we're missing here is: one is a Defend Action (one of the basic action types), and the other is a Reaction that allows you to defend.

The big distinction to make here is between action (something you do on your turn) and reaction (something you can do anytime, once, between your turns)

In both cases it means to prep for incoming damage, and mitigate that damage by the result of your roll.

In a defend *Action*, you collect your pool, roll 3 dice and set up a 'damage sponge' for the next incoming, which is determined by your MID (usually). This is a pre-emptive action, and goes to waste if you are not attacked before your next turn.

In a defending *REaction*, you do the same, but more hastily, and roll only one die to determine the effectiveness. Thus, results are more random, and it usually appears with a trigger like "when you would take damage', so the defense will be used up immediately.

Rule of thumb: On your own turn, (i. e. when you narrate the action), use dice pools. On other's turns, a single roll must suffice, because right now it's not really about you.

Hope this helps!

That helps a lot. Thanks!