Tamara has some thoughts here.
Bearing in mind that I am only a hobbyist shooter without formal training, my situation is simplified by the fact that the only carbine I own is a Mauser k98. (Dad’s battlefield souvenir.) I’m not going to get that out in the middle of the night to go goblin hunting.
My main problem with a standard big American shotgun is my arms are too fragging short, and my shoulders are already shot; I don’t need a big recoil making them worse. I solved that problem a few years ago by giving my Dad’s Winchester Model 24 in 12ga to my son-in-law (who wanted to take up skeet shooting; he loves that gun) and buying a Remington Model 870 Express Youth in 20ga. I can hold it comfortably and it doesn’t pound me to death. And it still holds three more rounds than the Model 24.*
And even at that, I’d be more likely to grab the pistol out of the nightstand if I wanted to check on a bump in the night. I don’t have to worry about running the barrel into a wall and it holds a lot more rounds.
At my age, so far as distance goes, chasing goblins out of the house is all I’m interested in. I’m not going to follow them out and pursue to the curtilage line; my wife can call 911 while I’m busy clearing the house. The longest line of sight in our house is only about 20 feet anyway 🙂
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* I used to have a Savage kid’s shotgun in .410, that my grandfather gave me when I was 13-ish. Although it was a good first gun with which to learn firearm discipline, it was only a single-shot model. I gave it to a friend some years ago along with all the .410 ammo I had.