What are the powers of the One Ring?

Kaodi said:

That takes some major lurkage fortitude to register in 2005 and make your first post nearly 10 years later.

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Guess who has been wearing the you know what...

Morrus said:

Yeah, I've heard that. I knew that already. My question was that that is all very... vague. What does the ring actually do?

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I keep coming back to the idea that Sauron poured so much of himself into the One Ring that he basically ceased to exist save as a wraith without it, and it took him 3,000 years to get to the point of even appearing visible. Me, I'd assume that the Ring, in the hands of someone knowledgeable like Gandalf or Galadriel, would allow you to do anything Sauron could do back in the day. He was an earthshakingly powerful sorcerer, so one would assume you'd be able to bend the elements to your will, do mass mind control on his creations like he does with the orcs, trolls, etc, speak and see across vast distances. You could probably do some of the things you see in Lair powers for major monsters in D&D now; the land itself eventually comes to mirror you. Galadriel is wild and fey, so Lothlorian is as well. When Sauron was at his full power, Mordor responded to him, becoming a dark and evil place, just as The Necromancer he slowly poisoned the entirety of Greedwood just by his continued presence. Someone with the Ring fully empowered would probably have similar effects in their region.

Most magic in Middle Earth is powerful but subtle. Tolkien is very much obeying the basic rules of faerie tale magic here, with the huge magical effects also having a massive cost, usually in time and lasting effects on the wielder.