The One Power in The Wheel of Time
The One Power, drawn from the True Source that drives the Wheel of Time, can be channeled by gifted men and women, allowing incredible feats. Since the end of the War of Power, the malf half, saidin, has been tainted, so that only saidar, useable by women, has been safe to channel. Male channelers are doomed to eventually go insane and die from a slow rotting disease.
Each character who desires the ability to channel must have an Advantage that allows him or her to touch the True Source. The character can then choose Talents and Deficiencies, and must put skill points into the various Power skills. Finally, each character receives a number of points with which to buy Weaves equal to the cost of the Advantage that allows her to channel.
Talents
Not everyone has the same abilities in using the Power. Each channeler may have certain Talents
or Deficiencies. These can be purchased using points in Character Creation. In the following list, the number
in parentheses is the cost of that Talent. A character can also have deficiencies; these give points
that can be used for Talents or other Advantages or Skills.
Cloud Dancing(2) The character has a greater than normal ability to influence weather using the One Power. The character gain one weather Weave for free, and gains 1 extra die on all Thread Weaving rolls for working weather.
Earth Singing
Foretelling(6) The character possesses the rare Talent of Foretelling, which allows the character to sometimes predict the future. Anything he or she Foretells will come to pass, although Foretelling is spoken in the words of prophecy, so its meaning is often obscure until the events have come. Foretellings come erratically; the character will have them only infrequently, and cannot "call" them at will. Normally, only important events are Foretold; generally these will occur within, at most, a few years, although Foretellings have been known that seem to refer to events in the far future (such as the Karaethon Cycle).
Healer(2) The character has a gift for healing with the One Power. The character receives 1 free Healing Weave, and gains 1 extra die on all Thread Weaving rolls for healing.
Legendary(varies) The character selects another Talent (not Thread Weaving or Foretelling), and spends its cost again to be Legendary in that Talent. The character then gets to add +2 to all rolls involving that Talent.
Strength in the Power(3 for men, 6 for women) The character is unusually strong in the One Power, able to channel more than most. The character receives +2 Effect Dice they can safely wield.
Thread Weaving Talent(varies) The character has an easier time working one of the Five Threads of the One Power: Air, Earth, Fire, Spirit, or Water. This Talent can be taken more than once, but costs more each time, as follows: first=2, second=4, third=8, fourth=16, fifth=32. Women cannot take Earth or Fire as their first choice; men cannot take Air or Water first. Note this is the additional cost, not the total. So to be strong in all five would cost 62 points! This talent gives the character an additional Thread Weaving die when weaving using only the thread type(s) they are talented in. In addition, they receive a +1 on attempts to learn a Weave containing the Thread they are talented in (+2 if it only uses that thread). Characters also receive one free point towards Weaves at character creation in each Thread they are talented with.
Deficiencies
Just as some channelers are better at certain workings of the Power, so too some are lacking in ability
in areas. These Deficiencies are Disadvantages, and give points to the character during
character creation. Unlike most disadvantage points, these can only be spent on Talents, Thread Weaving
or other Power-related skills, or Weaves.
Thread Weaving Deficiency(3) The character loses one die from each roll in weaving the Power using the Thread they are deficient in. In addition, they receive a -1 to attempts to learn Weaves using the deficient Thread.
Weaving the One Power is the heart of channeling. Simply being able to touch the True Source offers some protection from the Dark One and can slow aging, but doing work with the Power requires the ability to weave its threads. Certain patterns are refined, taught, and commonly known; these are Weaves, and characters will start with a few and be able to learn more later. Their are two ways to weave the One Power: constructing a Weave, or weaving on the fly. Constructing a Weave requires that the character know the Weave in question; they then make a Thread Weaving roll for each thread required by the Weave. A character can maintain as many threads in one round as her rank in Thread Weaving. A character can attempt to hold additional threads by making a Focus roll against 4 x number of extra threads; failure causes the character to lose all threads and take a Fortitude loss equal to the number of threads lost. A character who reaches zero Fortitude while channeling has burned herself out, and will be unable to touch the True Source again.
Once the character has the required threads for the Weave, she can attempt to put them into a patten that will accomplish the desired effect. The character makes a Thread Weaving roll against the Weaving Difficulty of the Weave; if successful, the Weave takes effect. A failure costs the character all threads woven for that weave. A botch acts the same as botching when attempting to handle extra threads (above). Many Weaves require additional rolls to see how the Weave actually acts; a failure in this roll normally causes only the effect to fail, and a botch most often collapses the Weave without harming the channeler. There are exceptions, however.
Weaving on the fly follows the same procedure. However, in this case the character does not know an exact pattern for the Weave, and therefore makes a guess about the structure of the Weave. In this case, the character's Thread Weaving is treated as half normal for all purposes, and the character also receives a -1 to all rolls for this weave, including for its effects. This is where Talents really help; the extra die is not halved. For this reason, most weaving on the fly involves either simple weaves or weaves that the channeler is talented in. The GM will come up with the specifics of the on-the-fly Weave, or will match it up with something similar from the list of Weaves.
Characters can also increase the strength of their weaves by drawing on more of the One Power. This adds effect dice to the Weaves, so that multiple dice can be used in rolling for the effect (damage, etc.). Each character can have a number of Effect Dice in use during any given round equal to one half her lowest trait's die type. Note that all weaves require at least 1 Effect Die, even if no roll is required. Many Weaves require more than 1 Effect Die; for example, Healing requires a minimum of 2. Just as with threads, Weaves that are being maintained still cost their Effect Dice. Channelers can attempt to draw upon more of the One Power to generate more Effect Dice, in exactly the same fashion as weaving more threads, and with the same consequences. If a character ever attempts to use more Effect Dice in one round than her Fortitude, she takes 1 Body damage for every die over.
Using the One Power is tiring. Every round a channeler maintains more threads or Effect Dice than her normal maximum, she automatically loses 1 Fortitude for each extra die or thread. In addition, channeling works in the same way as fighting for the purposes of exhaustion; see Fatigue for details.
Generally, keeping a weave in place round after round works in the same way as creating a new weave; however, maintaining a weave does not count as an action. It is possible for channelers to learn to "tie off" weaves; this is a skill, and requires an action. The channeler uses her Tie Weave skill and spends one additional thread; she must roll to beat the Weaving Difficulty of the weave again.
Channelers can attempt to use multiple Weaves in the same round. However, each weave beyond the first requires an additional Thread or Effect Die, on top of their costs, and each additional Thread Weaving roll receives a cumulative -1. Any botch causes all weaves made in that round, as well as all maintained Weaves, to collapse.
Aes Sedai are the most well-known organization of channelers.
Aes Sedai characters receive several benefits:
Warders are the near-legendary guardians and companions of Aes Sedai.
Most Aes Sedai have one Warder; only the Red Ajah does not bond any, and only the Green approves of having more than one.
Most often, Warders are required to swear oaths of obedience to their Aes Sedai; for the purposes of
character creation, these do not count as Disadvantages! Warders can be compelled through their bond,
and they feel their mistress's pain and fatigue. In addition, most
Warders do not outlive their Aes Sedai by long;
the will to live fades after such a loss. Warders do receive some very potent benefits: