In this paper the characteristics for a single- and a bi-ion plasma in the presence of Alfvén waves are given. In the single-ion case, the analysis is extended to the situation where Alfvén waves saturate and dissipatively heat the plasma. When there is no dissipation, there are three sound waves and one entropy wave in the single-ion plasma. Each sound wave is associated with two Riemann invariants relating the changes in density and wave pressure to changes in the flow. In the case when the Alfvén waves saturate and heat the plasma, there are two sound waves and one modified entropy sound wave. Each wave is associated with two Riemann invariants relating changes in density and entropy to changes in the flow. The analysis for the bi-ion plasma is simplified to very sub-Alfvénic flows. In this case the Alfvén waves behave like another plasma component, and both the electric and Alfvén wave forces have the same structure. The system possesses two entropy waves and four sound waves. Each sound wave is associated with two Riemann invariants relating changes in density and flow velocity along the characteristic curves.