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Rule 0 of fantasy: the more complex a universe's magic system is, the funnier it is when someone pulls out a gun.
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this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2025
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My headcanon is that a world that has magic would've never discovered gunpowder.
Any half-decent alchemist would definitely stumble on a few explosive mixtures just through normal practice.
I read a really excellent breakdown of this years ago that I'll attempt to paraphrase:
Modern-day guns are the endpoint of centuries of evolution! Evolution that, at nearly every step, is trumped by either magic or a simple bow and arrow.
Which isn't to say that guns can't or wouldn't exist in a fantasy world; "metal tube with an explosive that shoots something out" is fairly intuitive design.
But that basically gets us to, what, blunderbusses? Or maybe something even less functional, I'm no historian. Point being that, in a world with magic, innovating on a boomstick that has an effective range of ten meters may not be an attractive use of time when you have other, better options.
Cannons were really effective from a fairly early point (see conquest of Constantinople/Byzantium), and in a lot of universes with magic it's still much easier to make a cannon than a wizard.
You can assume that a city on the level of Constantinople would have magic-reinforced walls if that's possible, but only if that magic system actually has spells for that, which isn't a given. In some fantasy universes, guns are specifically useful for piercing a wizard's protection spells.
Though really, it comes down to how common it is to have people who have whatever is needed for magic, and how long it takes to train them until they are more likely to blow up the enemy than themselves. And whether the author(s) want(s) to make guns useful in their world.
Except that this is something any barkeep would be d able to pull out at a moment's notice without any other preparation than having put it there at any point previously. No need to pay a retainer for a mage, or that nasty "subscription to the local guild".
Oh yeah, a lot would depend on metalworking sophistication. A fantasy world might be able to produce steel for swords, but precision mechanical parts? probably not. Modern automatic guns, even semi-auto, are probably not possible.
But your basic grenades, fire lances or hand cannons, and cast bronze or iron cannons should all be well within the capabilities of your average Dwarven settlement (you guys can't cast a 10-foot long bronze tube? how are you even dwarves?)
I can see lots of applications for these in a world of magic, first and foremost delivering various magic-enhanced projectiles (cannonball of frost, bullets of psychic damage, etc).
Also, do any specific metals have special properties in your magic system? Could a mythril bullet simply pass straight through a magic shield as if it wasn't there?
Does iron inhibit a mage's casting abilities? (hit him with iron birdshot - no need for accuracy - it won't hurt him much but some chunks of iron embedded in his skin might fuck up his attacks)
Are silver weapons particularly effective against werewolves, vampires, etc? Fuck it, silver grenade, problem solved. Or maybe make some holy-water-tipped bullets like Hellboy, or melt some holy relics down into bullets.
Magic abilities take years of training to use effectively in combat, and maybe people with innate abilities. But given enough supplies, you could train a hundred peasants to operate hand cannons in a month.
In the OOP's example, that is solved by magecraft (which is distinct from "true" magic btw) losing potency by becoming general knowledge, thus forcing mages into working their magecraft in secrecy.
Both the mages and the Church work hard at keeping it a secret, albeit with different motives and methods.