Is a Dwarven Thrower's Returning property affected by the Antimagic Field spell?

Question

The antimagic field spell states:

[...] A magic weapon's properties and powers are suppressed if it is used against a target in the sphere or wielded by an attacker in the sphere. If a magic weapon or a piece of magic ammunition fully leaves the sphere (for example, if you fire a magic arrow or throw a magic spear at a target outside the sphere), the magic of the item ceases to be suppressed as soon as it exits [...]

However, the Dwarven thrower is a rather unusual weapon, it is magic and it states:

[...] Immediately after the attack, the weapon flies back to your hand [...]

Say somebody is inside the sphere and they throw a Dwarven Thrower at an enemy who is outside the sphere. Presumably the hammer will leave the sphere, thus no longer being suppressed by the field. Then it hits its target and tries to return to the attacker. Eventually it will come back in contact with the sphere. What happens then? Does the antimagic field stop the Dwarven Thrower from returning all the way?

Answer 1

It would not automatically fly into your hand, however what exactly happens is up to the DM/GM

Antimagic Field says the following for Magic Items:

The properties and powers of magic items are suppressed in the sphere. For example, a longsword, +1 in the sphere functions as a nonmagical longsword.

A magic weapon's properties and powers are suppressed if it is used against a target in the sphere or wielded by an attacker in the sphere. If a magic weapon or a piece of magic ammunition fully leaves the sphere (for example, if you fire a magic arrow or throw a magic spear at a target outside the sphere), the magic of the item ceases to be suppressed as soon as it exits. Emphasis mine.

Based on this description, the Dwarven Thrower would no longer be suppressed once it leaves the antimagic field, however once it re-enters it would be. The Dwarven Thrower would begin to return to the thrower, however what happens once it re-enters is uncertain and most likely up to the DM.

Based on this answer to a similar question, the returning feature of the Dwarven Thrower is magical due to the Dwarven Thrower being a magical item. (See Pg 17 of Sage Advice Compendium under Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?)

Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?

Determining whether a game feature is magical is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions about the feature:

• Is it a magic item?
• Is it a spell? Or does it let you create the effects of a spell that’s mentioned in its description?
• Is it a spell attack?
• Is it fueled by the use of spell slots?*
• Does its description say it’s magical?

If your answer to any of those questions is yes, the feature is magical.

As a result, the Dwarven Thrower would not automatically fly into your hand, but what exactly happens when re-entering the Antimagic Field is up to the DM. Some possible interpretations could be:

1. It continues flying, but you may have to try and catch it, rather than it flying into your hand.
2. It just drops because it was magically flying and had no actual momentum behind it (Unlikely)

I would most likely go with option 1. Depending on how much of the Antimagic field the hammer flies through before reaching you could decide if a check is needed to catch it.

Answer 2

RAW: As long as the attack hits another creature, it will return to the thrower's hands.

The text for Dwarven Thrower states the following:

When you hit with a ranged attack using this weapon, it deals an extra 1d8 damage or, if the target is a giant, 2d8 damage. Immediately after the attack, the weapon flies back to your hand.

The usage of the term "immediately" leads me to believe that, for the purposes of the rules, the weapon instantly returns to the thrower's hands. As such there is no time in between the hit and the return of the weapon where its magical properties might be suppressed by the Antimagic Field.

Opinion: Add a skill check to it

The RAW application of this question is rather boring compared to what a player would expect. Intuitively, one might image that the hammer would lose its ability to return to the thrower's hand as soon as it entered the field, consequently falling to the floor or becoming unstable in its flight.

In order to address this, I'd simply require the thrower to make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) skill check to catch the weapon, adding some thematically appropriate penalty if they failed it.