How to pass passwd Server <-> Client in a "secure" way

Dear Mr/Miss/Mrs/Madam/Sir All, I am currently thinking of how to transport the passwd between the database and the client. One suggestion would be to use a one pad chipper, but this is pointless if I want to update the passwd: the key has to be distributed. So I was thinking of using a public key system , for example RSA (would DES take to long time?). But before I start all this implementation, I wonder what other kinds of solution other might have been using - I would prefer not to have scripts running on the client side, but a public key system force me to do this. (And I can use php, so it pointless to refer to any php specific methods.) //Anders