I am trying to use this function thusly:

addtoleveledlist vendorscrollabsorbattr1novice amblanksheet 1 3


as vendorscrollabsorbattr1novice is the actual list, and NOT a reference variable, does that need to be in quotes? Or, will it work as is?

Don't use quotes as this would tell the compiler "vendorscrollabsorbattr1novice" is a string. Only FormIDs need to be in quotes.
If it doesn't work, try using the compiler override, or put it in a ref-var first.

Thank You. Will do a bit o' testing, and see how it works.