diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwrender/animation.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwrender/animation.cpp
index 097a4febfa..2be2165ea6 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwrender/animation.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwrender/animation.cpp
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ namespace MWRender
             mTextKeyListener->handleTextKey(groupname, key, map);
     }
 
-    void Animation::play(const std::string &groupname, int priority, int blendMask, bool autodisable, float speedmult,
+    void Animation::play(const std::string &groupname, AnimPriority priority, int blendMask, bool autodisable, float speedmult,
                          const std::string &start, const std::string &stop, float startpoint, size_t loops, bool loopfallback)
     {
         if(!mObjectRoot || mAnimSources.empty())
@@ -473,8 +473,6 @@ namespace MWRender
             return;
         }
 
-        priority = std::max(0, priority);
-
         AnimStateMap::iterator stateiter = mStates.begin();
         while(stateiter != mStates.end())
         {
@@ -653,7 +651,7 @@ namespace MWRender
                 if(!(state->second.mBlendMask&(1<<blendMask)))
                     continue;
 
-                if(active == mStates.end() || active->second.mPriority < state->second.mPriority)
+                if(active == mStates.end() || active->second.mPriority.mPriority[blendMask] < state->second.mPriority.mPriority[blendMask])
                     active = state;
             }
 
@@ -690,6 +688,7 @@ namespace MWRender
         addControllers();
     }
 
+    // TODO: remove
     void Animation::changeBlendMask(const std::string &groupname, int mask)
     {
         AnimStateMap::iterator stateiter = mStates.find(groupname);
@@ -1208,9 +1207,10 @@ namespace MWRender
     {
         for (AnimStateMap::const_iterator stateiter = mStates.begin(); stateiter != mStates.end(); ++stateiter)
         {
-            if((stateiter->second.mPriority > MWMechanics::Priority_Movement
-                    && stateiter->second.mPriority < MWMechanics::Priority_Torch)
-                    || stateiter->second.mPriority == MWMechanics::Priority_Death)
+            if (stateiter->second.mPriority.contains(int(MWMechanics::Priority_Hit))
+                    || stateiter->second.mPriority.contains(int(MWMechanics::Priority_Weapon))
+                    || stateiter->second.mPriority.contains(int(MWMechanics::Priority_Knockdown))
+                    || stateiter->second.mPriority.contains(int(MWMechanics::Priority_Death)))
                 return false;
         }
         return true;
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwrender/animation.hpp b/apps/openmw/mwrender/animation.hpp
index 0a90489cf0..90d2a68a32 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwrender/animation.hpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwrender/animation.hpp
@@ -118,6 +118,35 @@ protected:
 
     struct AnimSource;
 
+    /// Holds an animation priority value for each distinct bone blendmask.
+    struct AnimPriority
+    {
+        /// Convenience constructor, initialises all priorities to the same value.
+        AnimPriority(int priority)
+        {
+            for (unsigned int i=0; i<sNumBlendMasks; ++i)
+                mPriority[i] = priority;
+        }
+
+        bool operator == (const AnimPriority& other) const
+        {
+            for (unsigned int i=0; i<sNumBlendMasks; ++i)
+                if (other.mPriority[i] != mPriority[i])
+                    return false;
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        bool contains(int priority) const
+        {
+            for (unsigned int i=0; i<sNumBlendMasks; ++i)
+                if (priority == mPriority[i])
+                    return true;
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        int mPriority[sNumBlendMasks];
+    };
+
     struct AnimState {
         boost::shared_ptr<AnimSource> mSource;
         float mStartTime;
@@ -132,7 +161,7 @@ protected:
         bool mPlaying;
         size_t mLoopCount;
 
-        int mPriority;
+        AnimPriority mPriority;
         int mBlendMask;
         bool mAutoDisable;
 
@@ -319,7 +348,7 @@ public:
      * \param loopFallback Allow looping an animation that has no loop keys, i.e. fall back to use
      *                     the "start" and "stop" keys for looping?
      */
-    void play(const std::string &groupname, int priority, int blendMask, bool autodisable,
+    void play(const std::string &groupname, AnimPriority priority, int blendMask, bool autodisable,
               float speedmult, const std::string &start, const std::string &stop,
               float startpoint, size_t loops, bool loopfallback=false);