Emerging smokepowder weapons in my fantasy

[Joseph Paul]

Caveat - don't know a thing about the FR setting. That said is there not the same economic problem with archers/wizards vs gunners? That is that as long as there is a ready supply of bodies that can be trained for the years necessary to master those arts (yes, yes not so much with the crossbow) you are OK. What happens in a long war when casualties start eating up that supply? Particularly with wizards that have often been portrayed as being a tiny minority of most fantasy populations? The high cost of the smokepowder may be offset by a situation wherein archers and wizards have become scarce. Gunners require little training making replacing them relatively easy.