Maybe a slightly different perspective.
I've only been turning about a year and I definitely consider myself a novice. Not quite a beginner maybe but definitely not an expert.
Like many, most of my turnings have been small items and mainly pens at that. I've made probably about 100 or so deer antler bullet pens to be sold for a friend of mine
So I've developed some turning skill, but I have a lot to learn - and I'm trying to do just that.
I use a 5/8 bowl gouge for bowls and carbide tools for pens and smaller items. I have a couple of the full size EWT that came with the lathe that I bought and I have the smaller Rockler carbide set and several of the Captain Eddie cutters and bars with my own handles.
I love the caribed tools for making pens. I've tried to take the "purist" approach and force myself to use a skew and small gouge and I could never get my pens straight like I can with a carbide cutter.
I know they are scrapers but I find that I can get a great finish on my pens and I've never had a problem with torn grain or anything that my normal sanding didn't take care of.
Like I said, for any bowls that I've done, I use my gouge. I took a class to start and that class taught the bowl gouge. I also have read just about every book I could find and have watched I think all of the DVDs in my local club library so I'm fairly comfortable with my bowl gouge for bowls.
For other types of spindle work, I've tried to use the various spindle gouges and skews but I struggle with making nice uniform cuts. They always come out highs and lows where I come out of the cut or "steer" too deep. I need practice. I'm getting there, but it's not "second nature" to me yet.
But in the meantime, I use my carbide tools for those smaller items. Especially for recent Christmas gifts as I needed some nice smooth coves and I simply couldn't produce what I wanted at this stage and at my current skill level without my trusty round carbide cutter.
My goal is to use traditional gouges for all my spindle and faceplate (bowl) work as I develop my skills simply because of the quality of surface left on the material.
But I will probably always use carbide for pens and small items. It's just too easy and gives me a much higher confidence working on those smaller items than trying to turn them to the right diameters perfectly straight with a bevel rubbing cut like a those that use a small gouge or skew.
Like a lot of people, I'm a tool junkie so I have a bunch of them and all different sizes and brands, but so far, my "go to" tools are my 5/8 bowl gouge for bowls and my carbide tools for pens.
I find that to be a happy medium and I don't feel like I'm "cheating" the hobby so much that way.
Hope this helps.