diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwmechanics/creaturestats.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwmechanics/creaturestats.cpp
index c61cc9697..ac35fc2ea 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwmechanics/creaturestats.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwmechanics/creaturestats.cpp
@@ -495,7 +495,10 @@ namespace MWMechanics
         state.mDead = mDead;
         state.mDied = mDied;
         state.mMurdered = mMurdered;
-        state.mFriendlyHits = mFriendlyHits;
+        // The vanilla engine does not store friendly hits in the save file. Since there's no other mechanism
+        // that ever resets the friendly hits (at least not to my knowledge) this should be regarded a feature
+        // rather than a bug.
+        //state.mFriendlyHits = mFriendlyHits;
         state.mTalkedTo = mTalkedTo;
         state.mAlarmed = mAlarmed;
         state.mAttacked = mAttacked;
@@ -544,7 +547,6 @@ namespace MWMechanics
         mDead = state.mDead;
         mDied = state.mDied;
         mMurdered = state.mMurdered;
-        mFriendlyHits = state.mFriendlyHits;
         mTalkedTo = state.mTalkedTo;
         mAlarmed = state.mAlarmed;
         mAttacked = state.mAttacked;
diff --git a/components/esm/creaturestats.cpp b/components/esm/creaturestats.cpp
index cac5cc0a6..75c1c28bc 100644
--- a/components/esm/creaturestats.cpp
+++ b/components/esm/creaturestats.cpp
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ void ESM::CreatureStats::load (ESMReader &esm)
     mMurdered = false;
     esm.getHNOT (mMurdered, "MURD");
 
-    mFriendlyHits = 0;
-    esm.getHNOT (mFriendlyHits, "FRHT");
+    if (esm.isNextSub("FRHT"))
+        esm.skipHSub(); // Friendly hits, no longer used
 
     mTalkedTo = false;
     esm.getHNOT (mTalkedTo, "TALK");
@@ -140,9 +140,6 @@ void ESM::CreatureStats::save (ESMWriter &esm) const
     if (mMurdered)
         esm.writeHNT ("MURD", mMurdered);
 
-    if (mFriendlyHits)
-        esm.writeHNT ("FRHT", mFriendlyHits);
-
     if (mTalkedTo)
         esm.writeHNT ("TALK", mTalkedTo);
 
@@ -235,7 +232,6 @@ void ESM::CreatureStats::blank()
     mDead = false;
     mDied = false;
     mMurdered = false;
-    mFriendlyHits = 0;
     mTalkedTo = false;
     mAlarmed = false;
     mAttacked = false;
diff --git a/components/esm/creaturestats.hpp b/components/esm/creaturestats.hpp
index 91ee98333..2a03136d0 100644
--- a/components/esm/creaturestats.hpp
+++ b/components/esm/creaturestats.hpp
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ namespace ESM
         bool mDead;
         bool mDied;
         bool mMurdered;
-        int mFriendlyHits;
         bool mTalkedTo;
         bool mAlarmed;
         bool mAttacked;