Voodoo doll

Voodoo doll is the term used when more than one "Player 1 start" Thing exists on a map in vanilla Doom. When the map is loaded, each extra Player 1 start will have a dormant green player at its coordinates. When these dormant players are damaged in any way, the actual player will suffer identical damage, hence the name "voodoo doll". These can be used for tricks on maps, such as "instant-death teleporters".

Voodoo doll in nopanic2.wad

The PWAD nopanic2.wad, from Maximum Doom, contains a voodoo doll. If you shoot at the dormant player, you may push him into the nearby teleporter, and he will teleport. If you then follow him into the teleporter, you will self-telefrag.

The PWAD mkfrgtme.wad, also from Maximum Doom, has a voodoo doll already positioned at a teleport landing on the western side of the map. If you use the corresponding teleporter, you will die instantly.

The PWAD selfdead.wad is possibly the earliest released PWAD that contains a voodoo doll.

If the actual player has less than 100% health when the voodoo doll is encountered, and then the voodoo doll is attacked until the actual player's health is reduced to zero, then the actual player enters a strange "undead" state. The undead player can move around, but cannot select any weapons, and will die if damaged further.

In Doom Legacy, voodoo dolls do not appear, and any tricks involving them will not work. However, most source ports do not alter voodoo doll behaviour.

Example

The map Civilian.WAD (File:Civilian.WAD) features two voodoo dolls to achieve the "undead" state, and also has an antidote for it.