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This isn't an act 3 thing (but may apply to act 3), but it is about DoTs. I used the bomb on the bandit quest (Act 1) and it put a bleed on bandits for 10 hp a turn for 5 turns. I then had Vaelis use Throwing Axes and it extended the bleed duration, but lowered the damage to 3 a turn. Oops?

Yes, oops.

Not a mistake you can make often though. Typically your characters deal comparable DoT damage, but in the cases where they don't you can always do the opposite of what you did: Put up a long bleed with one character and make it a strong bleed with another.

Yes that's a very particular case in which the damage would be lower though, since the bomb is applied externally from the combat, in the other situations as yay said the DoT should be similar

I'd kind of prefer if it didn't overwrite the dot at all - even if it means i don't get a turn extension - or if it applied a second, lower dot, but if it's a one-time scenario...

Are magic attacks supposed to affect stagger?

In Act 1, I can have my ranger whomp enemies for like 15 damage and instantly stagger them. But, if my druid either casts ice spike for 60 damage or arcane bolt for 10 damage, the stagger meter barely budges, if at all. Is that expected?

Yes magic impacts staggers less, since you can hit multiple enemies, long range, etc. They still impact stagger, but much less (this is also true for players, since enemies could stagger the whole team with powerful spells).

Fair enough for AoE, but isn't the penalty too harsh for magic bolt? My magic bolt for 9 damage does 0 stagger when a melee hit for 19 does over 7 stagger.

Well I wanted something to differentiate melee types from magic - considering magic users are more versatile (some can heal, other cast group buffs, etc).

If you are playing on nightmare though, stagger doesn't have any effect on enemies except enabling some moves like Cross Cut. They lose no stats at all. If that's any comfort

Mostly true. They still lose speed.